


Episode 7: Taking Steps

by WilliamShipley



Series: Kyle XY Season 4 [7]
Category: Kyle XY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-01-15 03:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 23,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1288720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WilliamShipley/pseuds/WilliamShipley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Kyle and Jessi take further steps in their romantic life, they are also taking steps in understanding Latnok and building a coalition.  Kesdet and Madacorp begin a venture which has the promise of changing the world.  Lori's songwriting moves ahead.  Against all this success, the plans set in motion by Brad Keels threaten disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trager Breakfast

Since it wasn't Saturday, breakfast at the Trager house involved everyone sitting around the kitchen table eating their chosen breakfast. Some chose cereal, some toast. Kyle was eating his favorite fruity cereal.

Josh finished his juice and commented, "I'm going to The Rack this morning, I volunteered to work the morning shift today."

"No G-Force?" Stephen asked. "Is Andy still unavailable?"

"They're in transit," Josh said. "They won't arrive in Seattle until next week at the earliest."

"Is she going to be back in time for the spring semester to start?" Nicole asked.

"She might miss the first couple of days," Josh said. "But that's the goal. She and Faith are driving cross country. Summer has flown back to get her department started." He shrugged, "I guess her new boss is really anxious to get going."

"Time is money, Josh," Kyle said, earning a 'look' from Nicole.

"Robin Benson wants me to come down to the agency this morning to sign the representation agreement," Lori said. "Can you come and check it out for me, Kyle?"

"I'll be glad to," Kyle agreed.

Nicole suggested, "Your father should probably go with you as well."

"Could you, Dad?" Lori asked.

Stephen nodded, "Sure, I don't have anything I need to do at UDub today. We haven't started our spring semester either."

"Do you want to come with us, Jessi?" Kyle asked.

Jessi said, "I want to go to the Kesdet office and check on our project. The construction of the lattice should be done late this morning according to the diagnostics."

"Then I'll go with Lori and Stephen," Kyle said. "If the assembly finishes and you want me to help test it, they can drop me off after we get Lori's papers signed."

Stephen looked puzzled. "What is this 'assembly' you are talking about? It sounds like an automated process."

"Our device depends upon a lattice of atoms of several different elements built into a precise structure," Jessi explained. "We are using lasers to track atoms and electric and magnetic fields to place the individual atoms into the proper spot in the lattice. The whole process has to be automated, of course."

"You're assembling something with individual atoms?" Stephen asked incredulous.

"In practice we are doing it in waves," Jessi said. "The peaks and troughs of the interference of the electrical signals cause wave patterns that attract the atoms being deposited in a programmed pattern."

Stephen looked at Nicole, "I used to think I was an intelligent, technologically savvy person. It looks like my role for this morning is to be the chauffer for the trip to the agency and watch Kyle read contracts."

"Don't feel bad, Stephen," Nicole said. "I have a doctorate in psychology and my contribution will be washing this morning's dishes."

"You both help a lot," Kyle reassured them. "We couldn't do this without you."

"Don't worry, Kyle," Nicole smiled. "We're just joking. We find it all really exciting."

"So do we," Kyle said, glancing at Jessi who smiled back at him. He dumped the rest of his sour patch kids packet into his fruity cereal and began scooping it up.


	2. Music Seen

The etching on the glass door to the office suite read 'Music Seen'. Lori opened the door and went in followed by Kyle and Stephen. She looked around then stepped up to the receptionist's desk and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm Lori Trager. I have an appointment with Robin Benson."

The receptionist punched a number on her phone and spoke into her headset, "Robin, I have Lori Trager here to see you." She listened for a moment and then said, "Robin will be right with you. You can wait over there." She indicated some chairs around a low coffee table in the reception area.

Robin appeared before they had a chance to sit down. She smiled at them and said, "Lori, I'm glad you could make it." She glanced at Stephen and Kyle.

"My Dad and brother are here with me," Lori explained.

"Good," Robin nodded, "Stephen and ..."

"Kyle," Lori supplied.

"Kyle, welcome to 'Music Seen', let me take you all to our conference room."

She led them down the hall to a richly furnished conference room and invited them to sit down. After they were seated, she said, "We are going to be joined by my CEO, Clint McCormick. Before he get's here, do you have any questions for me?"

"It all sounds exciting to me," Lori said. "My Dad and Kyle are here to help me look at the paperwork."

"You'll find it's all very standard," Robin assured them. "We're a legitimate agency. We like to match up talent with people who need it. There are agencies which try to get songwriters pay to have their songs promoted. That's not what we do."

As she was talking, a tall thin, red headed man in his mid thirties stepped into the doorway. He introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Clint McCormick. You must be Lori Trager. I'm CEO here at 'Music Seen'. Robin tells me she thinks your material has a lot of promise. She's got a good ear for her market segment." He glanced at Kyle and Stephen.

Lori said, "This is my father, Stephen Trager and my brother Kyle."

Clint shook hands all around and then sat down, opening his folder. He said, looking at Lori, "Robin told you that we are interested in trying to place your songs with active recording artists?"

"Yes," Lori said.

"Good," Clint nodded. "I liked your demo disk. Your use of language in your music caught our attention. As a performer, you still have a lot of room for growth, though. I don't want to give you the impression that we were going to try to get you signed as a performer."

"I don't really want to do that," Lori smiled nervously. "I just like writing my songs. The performances give me a deadline and goal to meet. It's also nice to see people like them."

"Excellent," Clint said. "A lot of people come here hoping that we are going to make them a rock star. I didn't want to mislead you. I want to build a relationship of trust." He took a breath and then continued, "What we'll try to do is to find an active artist who needs your material. We then become your publisher. Once they record it, you'll get royalties, both for the pressing of the CD's and for subsequent performances. The standard arrangement in this industry is that the royalties get split evenly between the song writer and the publisher, fifty-fifty.

"You get half?" Stephen asked. "Isn't that high?"

"I assure you, Mr. Trager, that's the standard practice in the industry," Clint said. "If Lori were a successful song writer with a solid track record she _might_ be able to negotiate a split publisher deal where she gets part of the publisher's half, but that's not likely as an unknown." He smiled and indicated the room, saying, "And we have to pay for all this and Robin's commission with our half, if there is any to split at all."

"What _is_ Lori likely to get?" Stephen asked.

"I can't honestly answer that," Clint said. "We have to place her music to get anything at all, and there is no guarantee of that. And then, it depends on who does the song and how much play it gets. If a song is recorded on a CD, there is a 9.1 cent mechanical license fee for each copy pressed. This would give each of us four and a half cents. If you are lucky enough to be on an album that goes gold, selling 500,000 copies, that can add up."

"Twenty two thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars," Kyle said.

Lori's eyebrows rose.

"Right," Clint said. "Of course very few albums go gold. It mostly depends on the artist. And when you do have a popular song there are also performance royalties. These are kept track of by BMI and ASCAP and they pay both the publisher and the writer directly on a quarterly basis. Also, if it appears in a movie or television show, there can be royalties for that. A really popular song can make a lot of money. Most don't. It's a very competitive market."

"It sounds unbelievable," Lori said. "I'm just hoping someone wants to use my songs."

"So are we," Clint laughed. He took some papers out of his folder and pushed them across the table to her. He said, "Here's our standard contract. It gives us an exclusive right to publish your music for a year. There are terms for renewal and so on. You don't have anyone else representing you, do you?"

"No," Lori shook her head. "The idea had never occurred to me."

"It can get confusing if two people are out marketing the same song," Clint explained. "There can be misunderstandings and legal disagreements. That can get expensive and no one wins."

"I'm happy to work with Robin," Lori assured him.

Clint smiled, "Then all we need is your signature on these papers. You are eighteen, right?" Clint asked. "Otherwise, I'll need your father's signature as well."

"I'm eighteen," Lori said.

Clint gestured toward the papers, "You can take them home to look at, if you want. I don't want to rush you, but Robin has some ideas for placement and we do want to get moving as soon as possible."

Lori handed the papers to Kyle who rapidly flipped through them and said, "It looks fine. It matches the research I did on the internet before we came."

"Kyle reads fast," Lori said noting Clint's raised eyebrows. She looked at Stephen and asked, "Dad?"

"If you want to do it, go ahead," Stephen said. "You could certainly use the money for college if they can actually place a song."

She took the pen and signed the signature block and handed it back to Clint.

Clint signed his part and pushed it to Robin saying, "Make sure Lori gets her copy." He turned back to Lori and reached out his hand saying, "Welcome to the agency. We hope this is the beginning of a long and productive relationship." He shook her hand then Stephen's then Kyle's. After that he stood and said, "Robin will take care of anything you need. It was nice meeting you all." Then he left the room.

Lori turned to Robin and asked, "So now I wait while you send out my demo and see if you find anyone interested?"

Robin looked slightly embarrassed, "Actually I already sent a couple of your songs out. That's why I was in a rush to get all the necessary paperwork in place. Willow Hendricks is interested in your song 'Thursday'."

"I love Willow," Lori said excitedly. "I listen to her all the time."

"Which is probably why some of yours songs seem to fit into her style," Robin said. "The process works better if the song writer has an affinity for the singer."

Lori frowned, "I thought Willow wrote her own songs."

"She writes most of them," Robin agreed. "But she picks up an occasional one from someone else. I had heard she was going into the studio for her next album and was a couple of songs short so I rushed her copies of the ones I thought would fit her style. She liked 'Thursday', she's going to see how it works for her."

"Willow is going to use 'Thursday' on her next album," Lori said. "That's incredible."

Robin held her hand up warningly, "She has to arrange it for her style and put down a track. If she likes how it comes out and it fits with the rest of the album then she'll use it. There's a good chance, but it's not certain."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed," Lori said.

"As long as you can still write songs that way," Robin said laughing. "Keep working. I'll keep looking for places for your other songs."


	3. Brad Keels

Brad Keels heard the knock on his hotel room door. He checked to see who it was and opened it to admit Colonel Kieferts and an athletic man of medium height with long, unkempt sandy hair. His face was hard and tanned from long exposure to the sun. Kieferts' aid, Atkins, stayed behind in the hallway.

Kieferts turned to Atkins and said, "I'll just be a moment, wait out there." He nodded to Keels who closed the door then said, "This is Ian Grimes. You asked me to find you someone for a job in Seattle. I think Ian's your guy."

Keels held out his hand, "Brad Keels." Ian gripped his hand and they shook, looking each other in the eye. Keels continued, "Why don't you get yourself something to drink?" He indicated the bar, then turned to Kieferts and raised an eyebrow, inviting comment.

Kieferts said, "He's worked on a number of my operations in various places and works well independently. He keeps his head in an emergency. He knows when to follow orders and when to improvise. He's willing to do what needs to be done. You indicated that discretion was more important than firepower, and he's discreet and precise, although he can do firepower if necessary. I recommend him unhesitatingly."

Keels nodded, and glanced at Grimes who stood at the bar sipping scotch, watching them with a guarded expression. He turned back to Kieferts, "He looks like he might do, I'll talk to him and decide. Are you available for dinner tonight?"

"I'm in town all day," Kieferts assured him.

"How about eight?" Keels asked. "The hotel restaurant still fine?"

"I'll look forward to it," Kieferts nodded in acknowledgement. They shook hands and he left, closing the door behind him.

Keels turned to Grimes and said, "Have a seat." He indicated the small table in the side of the room. Grimes sat down, Keels sat across from him.

He looked at Grimes and said, "Did the Colonel tell you what I wanted?"

"He didn't say much," Grimes said. "He said you wanted to have a teenage girl in Seattle disappear. He implied that it had to be done quietly and that you were offering a quarter million." He shrugged and added, "I'm assuming that it'll be more difficult than a simple drive by for that price."

"The girl in question is about eighteen," Keels began. "I want her to disappear quietly without a trace. No one is to have a hint about what happened."

"That still doesn't sound that hard," Grimes frowned. "Does she have a security detail?"

"There is an ex-military guy running security for her," Keels explained. "He's pretty good."

"So am I," Grimes said.

"Obviously, or the Colonel wouldn't have recommended you," Keels nodded. "The catch is that the girl has some pretty unusual abilities which will narrow your options. She can do some amazing things."

"Like what?" Grimes asked with a frown.

"Kill you with her mind," Keels said flatly.

Grimes looked annoyed, "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I'm serious, Mr. Grimes," Keels assured him. "If you aren't willing to take this assignment seriously, we can stop right now."

Grimes looked at him for a long while then said, "Colonel Kieferts says you're a serious player. I'm listening."

Keels opened the briefcase that had been sitting against the wall and got out a thick envelope. He put it on the table and said, "Here is the traditional first half, a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars."

Grimes picked up the envelope and looked at the bills inside. Then he looked back at Keels, "The money is definitely real."

"Oh, it's all real, Mr. Grimes," Keels said with a grim smile. He got a folder out of his briefcase and set it on the table. "Here's all the information we have on the target. This is highly confidential. Destroy it when you're finished studying it."

Grimes nodded and opened the folder. The first page was an eight by ten photo of Jessi. There were photos of the Tragers and of Tom Foss as well as a couple dozen pages of printed material.

Keels gestured toward the folder, "There will be a number of things in that folder that you will find unbelievable. The success of this mission depends on you believing them. You must take it all seriously. There can be no mistakes."

Grimes set the folder down and nodded, "I guess I've fallen into a rabbit hole. For a quarter million dollars, I'll follow your instructions."

Keels pulled a plastic bag out of his briefcase and put it on the table. He explained, "Here are ten 'burner' phones. They are programmed with my number. After you use one, destroy it immediately. Use each phone only once."

Grimes looked in the bag and nodded.

Keels continued, "When you get in place and have worked out a plan, give me a call. I will give you the go ahead confirmation."

"If I take the job, I want to be on my own until I finish it," Grimes objected. "I don't want to be making a lot of calls. It's safer that way."

"In this case, I insist on reserving the final decision," Keels said. "If I call it off, you'll still get the other half of the money. I remain in charge. Is that clearly understood?"

"Understood," Grimes nodded. "Are you going to want me to bring back some proof?"

"Nothing," Keels shook his head. "I'll know if the mission was successful. I don't need a trophy."

"When do I get my second half?" Grimes asked.

"Come back here and report to me and I'll give you the rest," Keels said.

Grimes opened up the folder and looked at the picture of Jessi for a moment and then he closed it and held out his hand, "Mr. Keels, we have a deal."


	4. Kesdet Consulting

Kyle waved at Stephen and Lori as they drove away after letting him out in front of the industrial unit that housed Kesdet Consulting's office. Kyle used the keypad to enter the code and opened the door to find Foss coming down the stairs.

"Jessi said you might be coming," Foss said. "She's in the back."

"Have you seen anything that we need to be concerned about?" Kyle asked.

"It's been really quiet," Foss told him. "I've increased our monitoring since you called and told me about Grace's concern, but there hasn't been anything unusual happening around here or at your house or Amanda's."

"I don't think I am going to be with Amanda anymore," Kyle said, with a hint of sadness. "She broke up with me. I think this time it's for good."

"I'm sorry Kyle," Foss said. "But they don't necessarily know that, and they would still be able to get to you through her, wouldn't they?"

"That's true," Kyle nodded. "I still want her protected."

"So I have to keep her under watch as well," Foss concluded.

"I guess so," Kyle agreed. "Thank you for everything. Are you all right here? You're all by yourself all the time."

"I like it that way," Foss grinned. "This is nice building and I have my place upstairs where I watch over things. Mostly I read. I'm still working with Declan."

"We appreciate that you are looking out for us," Kyle said. "If you ever need anything, just let us know."

"I will." Foss turned and went back up the stairs.

Kyle went into the back where Jessi had a screw driver and was attaching the top of a case. "I've connected the lattice structure to the interface hardware and am about ready to test it."

"What amperage are you going to charge it with?" Kyle asked.

"I'm going to start drawing thirty amps. That's common for electric car charging stations," Jessi explained. "This is a forty amp circuit so it will be able to handle the load."

Jessi connected the box to the socket with a double ended plug and looked at the readouts on the top. She smiled smugly at Kyle.

Kyle looked and nodded, "It's charging as predicted, so far so good. How long are you going to charge it before we try using it?"

"Sixteen and two thirds minutes, which should give us one kilowatt hour stored," Jessi said. "That will give us two percent of the chambers charged. That's enough to test."

"Full charge will take thirteen point eight hours," Kyle calculated, "unless you want to use higher amperage."

"I want to stick to what would be normally available at this stage. We'll do a full charge after we see that the unit is working." Jessi asked him, "How did things go at the agency? Did Lori sign the representation agreement?"

"Yes, everything was fine," Kyle said. "There may be someone who wants to record one of her songs. Lori's very excited."

"I want to see Lori do well." Jessi smiled, "She says she's my big sister."

"Aren't you about the same age?" Kyle frowned. "How could she be your big sister?"

"She looks out for me," Jessi explained. "She understands more about dealing with people than I do."

Kyle nodded, "That's our weakness, we can do things like this," he pointed at the unit they were testing, "but we have a hard time understanding people."

Jessi stepped next to Kyle and put her arm around him. He smiled at her and she kissed him in return.

"Careful," Kyle cautioned. "We don't want to introduce extraneous power fields and interfere with our experiment." Jessi smiled and leaned against his shoulder.

When the time was up, Jessi reached over and shut off the device and disconnected the plug. She toggled a switch on the top of the device and plugged a lamp into the socket turning it on. She said, "This is a hundred watt bulb, it should burn for ten hours on what we stored."

"Light bulbs are not very precise in their power usage," Kyle objected.

Jessi said in a 'you don't have to tell me' voice, "I added a resistor to calibrate it to a hundred watts with less than a one percent error."

Kyle looked at the display on the top of the unit, "The chambers are emptying. Everything seems to be working. Now we wait."

"Why don't we go to the Rack and get a smoothie," Jessi suggested. "You like smoothies."

"Don't you want to wait and time when the lamp goes out?" Kyle asked.

"We don't have to wait here for ten hours. Foss has this whole place on security monitors. We'll just look at the monitor and check the timestamp. ."

"Ok," Kyle said. Then he frowned.

Jessi told him, "You are going to have to go to The Rack when Amanda is there sometime. Is she there now?"

"I don't know her new schedule," Kyle admitted.

"That's a step in the right direction," Jessi said, mostly to herself. She took his arm and said, "Come on, let's go get a smoothie. Our battery works, we should celebrate."

"We haven't tested it under all the scenarios," Kyle objected.

"Don't be 'Downer Doug, Party Police'," Jessi said. "An amazing number of things are working. I want to celebrate."


	5. The Rack

Kyle and Jessie walked through the door of the Rack. Amanda had her back to them as she stood at the blender making a smoothie. Kyle hesitated and Jessi looked at him in concern.

_I had told myself that I was going to have to get over the loss of Amanda, and I thought I was succeeding. When I saw her, standing at the blender, I thought of all the times I had come to The Rack to sit and watch her work as I drank my smoothie. All the feelings of those times flooded back and with them the feeling of loss I had been suppressing. This was going to be harder than I had expected._

"Why don't you go sit on the patio and I'll get our smoothies," Jessi told him.

"It's all right," Kyle said. "I can order my own smoothie." But his face still looked troubled.

Jessi smiled reassuringly, "It's going to take time to get used to it. I'll get them for us this time. What would you like?"

Kyle's brow furrowed in a frown then he said, distractedly, "I'll just have the usual," and went through the rack to the patio area to sit.

Amanda gave the smoothie she had just made to its purchaser and then watched Kyle as he walked away. With a puzzled look on her face she turned to the counter to see Jessi standing there.

"What do _you_ want," Amanda said.

"I want to order two smoothies."

Amanda glanced back at where Kyle was pulling up a chair in the back and then looked at Jessi, "Kyle can't order his own smoothie?"

"I'm getting them for both of us," Jessi said.

"All right," Amanda said with an annoyed expression, "What do you want in your smoothies."

"I'll have a strawberry banana, and Kyle will have his usual," Jessi said.

"His usual?" Amanda asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jessi looked uncertainly back at Kyle and finally said, "I'll have to ask him."

"Never mind," Amanda said with a sigh, "He'll have a pineapple, orange, banana." Jessi gave Amanda the money and she put it in the register giving Jessi her change. She said, "I'll bring them out to you as soon as they are done."

Jessi frowned, "I can wait."

Amanda glanced back at Kyle and turned to Jessi with a curl to her lip. She said, "You don't have to worry about me walking back there, I'm not going to try to take him back."

"We're together now," Jessi said defensively. "We have a connection."

Amanda sneered, "If you had such a great connection you'd know what kind of smoothies he likes."

Jessi stared at her for a moment and then turned and went back to wait with Kyle. As she sat down, slumping, Kyle saw the expression on her face and asked, "What happened?"

Jessi began, "Talking to Amanda made me feel ..."

"Insecure?" Kyle asked. He continued, saying, "Don't let it bother you, I'm here with you." He leaned over and kissed her lightly.

Jessi smiled and said, "It shouldn't bother me so much. She just knows how to say things that hurt. Lori can do that too, although she doesn't do it much anymore. I think that's one of the things you learn growing up with people."

"When it comes to dealing with people," Kyle said, "sometimes I think having an advanced brain is a disadvantage."

Amanda appeared carrying two smoothies. She set Kyle's in front of him saying, "Here's your smoothie, Kyle. I made it just the way you like it."

"Thank you Amanda," Kyle said, smiling.

Amanda smiled at him, then turned to Jessi and said, bluntly, "Here's your smoothie." She turned and went back into the main part of the shop."

"I made it just the way you like it," Jessi muttered to herself.

"She was just being polite," Kyle said. He took a sip and commented, "It _is_ just the way I like it." Jessi looked at him as if betrayed. Kyle said, "It's just a smoothie, Jessi. Don't let her bother you." He pulled his chair over next to hers and put his arm around her. She relaxed and put his head on his shoulder and started to drink her smoothie."

"Abby Hawkins has accepted our invitation for dinner tomorrow night," Kyle changed the subject. "I made reservations for us at the same place as last time."

"I liked that restaurant," Jessi smiled at the memory. "Maybe sometime the two of us could just go there on our own."

"On a date?" Kyle asked. "That would be nice. It has a great view."

As they sat together, arms around each other, Amanda stood behind the counter, ostensibly cleaning it but mostly glaring at the sight of them sitting together. She was so focused on it that she was unaware of the customer who was waiting until he cleared his throat.

She glanced up and said with some heat, "Nate, what do _you_ want?

"A latte?" He asked hesitantly, taking a half step back.

That brought Amanda back to herself and she said, "All right." She turned to make his latte.

When she gave it to him, he took a sip and opened his mouth to say something when he noticed her attention toward the back. He followed her gaze and noticed Kyle and Jessi. He turned back to Amanda and said, "I guess you probably don't want to sit and talk about music today."

"No, Nate I ..." She looked back at Kyle and Jessi with their heads together, "Actually I have a break coming. We were talking about some interesting things last time. Get us a table and I'll make myself a smoothie and join you."

"All right," Nate nodded, and carried his latte to the table they had sat at the previous time, saying to himself, "Thank you, Kyle."

Kyle and Jessi sat discussing their plans for the meeting until Kyle glanced into the shop and saw Nate sitting down with his latte. "What's _he_ doing here?" He protested.

Jessi turned to look just as Amanda arrived at his table carrying a smoothie and sat down with him. She reached out and put her hand on Kyle's arm as he started to rise. "Kyle, we've never found anything to connect him to the kidnapping or Sarah. He took Sarah's ring from Cassidy."

Kyle stayed in his seat and said, "But he's not a good person. Amanda shouldn't be sitting with him."

"Amanda knows about him," Jessi reminded him. "She helped me get his files. She knocked him out -- twice. If she wants to talk to him it's her own business."

"But I don't want her spending time with him, it could be dangerous," Kyle objected.

"We don't know that it is," Jessi said. "Do we?"

"No," Kyle admitted, reluctantly. "But I don't like it."

"I know you don't, Kyle," Jessi said. "If there is a real danger I will help you protect her. I always have. But unless we know about a real danger, we have to let her live her own life. And we have to live _ours_. She will not appreciate you interfering."

Kyle looked back at her and sighed, "I guess you're right. This is harder to get used to than I thought it would be."

"I guess it is," Jessi said. "Nicole said we just had to be patient."

_Seeing Amanda sitting with Nate brought back the feelings I had when they were at the Latnok party and I interrupted them as they were about to kiss. Jessi was right. Amanda knew about Nate's connection to Latnok and if she wanted to talk to him it was her own business. I had no right to interrupt. Amanda had been angry at me for being over protective and would be even angrier now since we weren't together any more._


	6. Kesdet Foss & Declan

Declan helped Foss roll out the mats that were stored in the warehouse section of the Kesdet offices. When they were finished, Foss walked onto the mat and gestured for Declan should follow.

"What we did with Kyle and Jessi will work for them," Foss began. "Unfortunately you and I have to learn this the traditional way. That's with lessons and lots of practice. Martial arts are all about balance, so I want you to first work on a stance." He faced Declan and said, "Stand like this, facing me, shoulders square, one foot in front of the other with your knees slightly bent. This will give you a balanced position"

Declan copied Foss's position.

Foss said, "Good, bring your hands up and lower your head slightly. You want to collect yourself together so that you can move or use force in any direction."

"Collect yourself?" Declan asked.

"It's a sense that you've pulled yourself together, like a spring that is compressed. If you are stretched out, you will take time to react. Just like a spring, you have to be ready to release energy."

Declan nodded, "I think I see."

Foss continued, "What we are going to start with is a basic foot sweep, the same thing I did with Kyle and Jessi but oriented toward the techniques that you and I can do. Are you ready?"

"All right."

Foss said, "You are on balance. I am going to have to change that if I want to have a chance to throw you. I'll start by getting into a matching position." He stood, facing Declan in the identical posture. "Now to move you I am going to initiate a 'tie-up' position. I will grab your clothing in the upper left part of your chest with my right hand and under your arm with my left."

"What do I do?" Declan asked.

"You do the same thing to me," Foss smiled. "That leaves us in a symmetrical position. At this point, we are both balanced and neither one of us is going over unless we use a lot of force. There are a number of throws I can do where I use the weight of my body to generate that force, but that leaves me falling down too. That could be fine in a one on one situation but I would rather you be on the ground while I am still on my feet."

"If I remember last time, you tripped me," Declan said.

"It's called a foot sweep. Let me demonstrate," Foss said. He swept Declan's right leg with his right leg and guided him down, rotating his upper body. He then helped him back to his feet, "Did you see what I did?"

"Not really," Declan frowned.

"Let's get back into the position," Foss went back to the balanced stance. Declan positioned himself in front of Foss and they went into the 'tie-up' position. Foss continued, "What I suggested to Kyle and Jessi was that they time their actions to match their opponent's natural movements. We can't usually be that precise but if I can get you to move at a time of my choosing then I can effectively time my response. I do this by pushing you." He pushed Declan who moved backward slightly and recovered. "What did you do?"

"I straightened back up."

"You were balanced, so I couldn't push you over without using a lot of force," Foss said. "But I could push you backwards and then you would naturally straighten out. At that point I have you moving in a direction I can predict, toward me, so I pull you so that you go farther than you intended to and become off balance." He demonstrated the process.

Declan nodded, "I can see that."

"So, once I get you moving, then I use my grip to rotate your body and get you off balance toward the back. I step past you to my left and move my right leg behind you. At this point with the rotation and my body pressing into yours, you will naturally start to fall back. You would normally move your right leg back to catch yourself, but I sweep your right leg with my leg that has passed yours and you cannot use it to recover your balance. Down you go. You do it to me now."

"All right," Declan went through the moves and at the end Foss fell to the mat on his back.

"Very good," Foss said.

"You helped," Declan said. "You were doing some of the throw yourself."

"At the beginning, the _Uke_ has to actively help until the student learns the moves," Foss explained. "As you practice you will improve your technique and be able to throw me even without my assistance.

"How would I stop you from doing it?" Declan asked.

"We'll get into that later," Foss smiled. "But let me ask you a question. What gave me the motion I needed to make it happen?"

"You pushed me and I pushed back," Declan said.

"You don't have to push back," Foss said. Declan nodded, thoughtfully. "Don't let your opponent dictate your actions. Let's do some more practice. You have to do this a lot before it happens at combat speed."

They practiced the throw several times working on each other until Foss called a halt to the exercise, "I think that's probably enough for tonight. If you get tired and sloppy you start practicing the wrong moves." He gestured toward the mats, "Help me get these mats rolled up."

They rolled the mats up and stored them back at the side of the warehouse where Foss kept them.

When they finished, Foss asked, "Would you like a beer?"

"Sure," Declan said.

"Why don't we go upstairs and sit down," Foss said. He led Declan up the stairs to his 'quarters', the glass enclosed upper floor. The layout was similar to every other place Foss had worked out of. He had a table set up with a number of monitors showing displays of the Trager and Bloom houses as well as the exterior of the building containing the Kesdet offices.

Declan had been there frequently doing his homework while keeping an eye on the monitors and felt comfortable there. He got himself a beer and went to one of the comfortable chairs by a small, low table at one end of the room and sat down. Foss got his beer and sat in another one. The streets of the industrial park were mostly empty at night and it was a quiet scene out the windows.

Declan took a drink and asked, "So how did you wind up working for Adam Baylin?"

"I was pretty much adrift," Foss glanced at the picture of the woman and girl that was nearby, "I was doing a few security related jobs, nothing permanent. My military training gave me a skill set for that. Adam hired a security firm to provide short term security for one of his projects. I got picked up by the firm as a temp." He took a drink out of his beer and looked out the window, remembering, "He came by once when I was on shift and we began talking. Adam had a comforting manner about him, partially wisdom, partially sadness. I found myself talking to him about things I hadn't said to anyone, things that were troubling me."

"So he hired you?" Declan asked.

"Yes," Foss nodded. "When the project was over, he asked me if I would be willing to work for him providing security. At that point he had been thrown out of Zzyzx and was concerned about what could happen. He had been persuaded by Brian Taylor that he needed to hire his own security. He knew everything about me, he had done his research."

"That sounds like Kyle."

"Yes, Kyle is like Adam, only supercharged," Foss said with a smile. "After I had worked with him a few months he asked me to take a job at Zzyzx and keep an eye on Kyle for him -- although he was 781227 at the time. With my military background I had no trouble getting hired by Zzyzx."

"And you were willing to spend years working undercover for Adam?"

"I quickly realized that Adam was special, that he had a chance to affect the world in ways I could barely imagine," Foss shook his head in wonder. "I had thought there was nothing left to live for. Adam gave me something to live for. A job that I thought might make it worth continuing to get up in the morning."

"You got Kyle out of Zzyzx," Declan prompted.

Foss frowned, a hint of anger appearing, "I had watched over him for years. They were going to kill him. They were going to destroy all that wonderful potential, Adam's legacy, just because they couldn't control him. I saved him, and have been watching over him ever since." He took a breath, "After they shot Adam, while I was there guarding him, I've been determined to protect Kyle. Now that Adam's gone, his legacy lives on in Kyle -- and Jessi."

"So you watch over them," Declan nodded.

Foss leaned forward, "They're going to do great things, Declan, they're so much more than Adam was and he was amazing. We have to keep them safe and allow them to reach their potential. They're going to change the world."

"That would be worth doing," Declan agreed.

They sat looking out the window for a moment then Foss said quietly, almost to himself, "And maybe it will help make up for it."

Declan glanced at the picture.

"Not for them," Foss shook his head, "Nothing will ever make up for that."

"What, then?"

"For being alive when the paramedics came," Foss answered bitterly looking into the night.


	7. Dinner with Abby Hawkins

Kyle and Jessi's table was at the far end of the restaurant, next to the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the valley. Jessi had suggested that they wear their 'business' attire for the dinner so Kyle was wearing his gray wool suit and Jessi was wearing the wool jacket and skirt with the cream blouse.

Kyle wiggled the knot of his tie and said with a smile, "I think you just wanted to see me in this suit again."

"You do look good in it," Jessi smiled. "But we've never spoken to Abby Hawkins before so I thought it might help make her take us seriously."

"There she is now," Kyle gestured toward the front of the restaurant where they could see the Maitre d' leading Abby Hawkins, a medium height, well dressed black woman, past the elegant tables filled with other diners. As they arrived at the table Kyle and Jessi rose and Kyle reached out a hand, saying, "Thank you for coming, Ms. Hawkins."

Abby Hawkins shook Kyle's hand, "Call me Abby." She shook Jessi's and then they all sat.

The Maitre d' said, "Your waiter will be with you in a moment," and handed them open menus. Kyle nodded and the Maitre d' went back toward the front of the restaurant.

Abby flipped the pages of the menu, "Since you two picked this place, I assume you've been here before. What's good?"

Kyle said, "We've only been once, I had the King Salmon, but I'm going to try the Sea Bass this time."

"I had the Artichoke Tortellini," Jessi said. "I liked it. I'll probably have it again."

"I think I'm going to try the Lamb," Abby said.

The waiter arrived, took their orders and withdrew.

Abby sat back, "I was hoping you'd give me a call. I've heard from Allana and I'd swear she's in love." Kyle looked consternated and Jessi possessive. Abby laughed and said, "Only platonically, of course. We're old enough to be your parents."

"In a way, you are our parents," Kyle said. "We exist because of the programs that Latnok put into place."

"Programs that you have taken serious exception to," Abby observed with a raised eyebrow.

"The rat in the experiment may not like being in an experiment," Kyle explained.

"We never had a childhood. No mother read us bedtime stories, we never found presents under a Christmas tree. We've missed so much," Jessi added. "And it makes it hard for us to interact with people."

"I understand," Abby nodded. "You have to understand that most of us would give anything to have your abilities. We all value intelligence and you have it coming out of your ears."

Kyle looked puzzled and glanced at Jessi then said, "It's just an expression."

Abby laughed, "We can discuss improvements in human intelligence some other time, and I hope to. Allana told me that you wanted to refocus Latnok's efforts on the goals that Adam had when he created us, to use science and technology for the betterment of mankind. I want to focus on that. I think it's about time someone thought that way again."

_We had arranged the dinner with Abby Hawkins, as we had with other members of the Latnok board, in an attempt to enlist her aid in bringing Latnok back toward Adam's vision. It appeared that Abby had come in the hopes of enlisting our aid on the same quest._

"You agree with that goal?" Kyle asked.

"Absolutely," Abby said. "I've been pushing for that for years but no one listens." She paused a moment and took a drink from her glass, "To be fair, people do listen, but not enough. Half the board is more interested in money, power and some pretty unsavory activities. You mentioned some of those at the board meeting."

"Yes, that was just a preliminary investigation, but what we found bothered us," Kyle agreed.

"I talked to Crossgate," Abby frowned. "He told me that you hadn't found anything definitive and that you asked him to pull the item off the agenda for the next meeting. Have you given up?"

"The more we looked into it," Kyle explained, "the more complex the situation was. Plus there have been hints of danger. We don't want to present information to the board until we have everything we need."

"Keels, I'll bet," Abby nodded with a grim expression. "That man is a cold blooded snake. He has his ideas of historical transformation through warfare and destruction. Individual people don't mean anything to him."

"We can't be sure where the threats are coming from," Kyle cautioned. "But that's a reasonable assumption. We're also spending a lot of time at Madacorp on improving their processes."

"Yes, I've heard about that," Abby nodded. She turned to Jessi and said, "I hear you saved their new anti-depressent by getting it reformulated before they went into clinical trials."

"It was probably going to cause a number of instances of liver failure," Jessi explained.

"You seem to be acquainted with our various efforts," Kyle observed.

"You're the most interesting thing that's come along in some time," Abby said. "Of course I'm interested." She raised an eyebrow, "I'm assuming you've looked into me as well?"

Jessi nodded, "You've done a lot of good in the area of healthcare. Some of the scanners you have been involved in the design of are expanding the ability to examine active biological processes. You've built some tools that are being used to help a lot of people."

"It's not enough," Abby shook her head. "We are all caught up in reimbursement and funding models. We need to expand the ability to really understand what is happening inside a living patient, and we need to do it quickly, inexpensively and universally."

"There are certainly a number of ways we can expand technology to help," Jessi agreed.

"Exactly," Abby said. "But we need a paradigm shift. We're providing more and more sophisticated tools that the physicians have not been trained to use effectively. They're being treated as only for exceptional situations and not being integrated into routine care processes. And we're discouraging their use on a cost basis and keeping us on the early, expensive, part of the R&D curve. I'm building state of the art scanners to look inside living people and doctors are still using tongue depressors as a primary diagnostic tool."

"When I was looking at the drug study," Jessi said. "I became interested in a systems approach. It seemed that they were simply targeting a single interaction that was a part of a complex process. That the entire process itself was not well understood."

"I've seen some good preliminary work on that concept," Abby agreed. "The complexity is enormous, though."

"Complexity is one of the things we're best at," Jessi smiled. "We can manage complex interactions involving more data than other people can. I haven't spent much time thinking about it but there do seem to be correlations that are obvious."

Abby turned to Kyle and gestured toward Jessi, "The more I talk to this girl, the more I like her." Jessi smiled, obviously happy to be appreciated. Abby continued, "But I guess what we need to talk about is how we can refocus Latnok so I should curb my enthusiasm for redesigning medicine as well." She looked at Jessi and suggested, "Maybe we can do that at some other dinner?"

Jessi nodded, "I'd like to do that."

Kyle said, "As you pointed out, about half the board has lost sight of what Adam wanted to accomplish. I'd like to hear your opinion of where the various board members stand on the subject."

"You've met a number of them," Abby said, "and I'm sure you're making your own assessments."

"It would be best to have as many data points as possible," Kyle pointed out. "I would like to hear your perspective."

Abby nodded, "Well, you know I like Allana. We agree a lot. Kasperson is ok, he won't lead a charge but he'll do what he says he will. Ryan is enthusiastic -- about science, which is not a bad thing, but he tries to stay out of the political fray. Crossgate tries, but we're always outnumbered. With you on the board, we have another vote, but that would just yield a stalemate."

"The others are all against us?" Kyle frowned..

"To varying degrees, they are. You know my opinion of Keels. I don't think much more of Milworth, he's always been more interested in the sickness side of healthcare -- making people sick. I simply don't like Lukeson, but I don't know much about the way he works. Grace is a manipulator, she manages to play everyone against each other and get her cut out of the middle." She looked at Kyle and shrugged, "I'm sorry Kyle."

"It's the way it is," Kyle acknowledged.

"Yes," Abby sighed. "Craig Tamblyn is tight with them but I don't know much about the man, he keeps to himself. And Julie Fairburn is in with them as well. I think she and Milworth were together at one point, although I'm not sure they still are."

"Are there any of them that we might reach?" Kyle asked.

"Maybe you might have some luck with Tamblyn," Abby shook her head. "I just don't know."

Kyle nodded, "That's in agreement with our other information." He thought for a moment and then looked at her, "Allana is right, we want to refocus Latnok back to Adam Baylin's goals. Will you help us? Can we count on you?"

Abby said, "Of course." She paused a moment and asked in return, "Can I count on you?"

"Of course," Kyle said with a smile.

_Abby had been encouraging and passionate about her goal. Her heartbeat, respiration and other biological signs were consistent with her passion. She made me even more determined to see this through. But we had to be careful, if Grace's warnings were to be taken seriously, and everyone thought that they should, pursuing the effort that I had just committed us to with Abby could put Jessi in grave danger. I glanced at Jessi, happy from her interactions with Abby and wanted to protect her with all my heart. She was strong and capable. We would see this through together._

After the meal, Kyle and Jessi walked Abby to her gray Mercedes. As she was about to get into her vehicle, Abby turned to Jessi and said, "Jessi, I really want to get together with you soon and talk about your insights into the systems approach to disease. It would be interesting to think about what diagnostic tools would be necessary to implement it. I think we could make some real progress."

"I'd like that too," Jessi said. They all shook hands and Abby got in and drove away.

Kyle and Jessi walked back to her Corvette, arms around each other, admiring the starry night.

"That went very well," Kyle said. "She's definitely going to be an ally."

"And we have some interesting medical ideas to talk about," Jessi agreed.

They got into Jessi's red Corvette and headed home.

Neither of them saw the dark sedan occupied by a man with unkempt sandy hair. As they drove away, Ian Grimes pulled out and followed at a distance.


	8. Jessi & Lori at the Mall

Jessi and Lori had gone to the mall to shop for clothes. The store was relatively empty as they moved from display to display looking at the merchandise.

"Thank you for coming with me," Jessi said. "You are better at picking clothes than I am."

"I've had years of practice," Lori smiled. "And you can always get me to go to the mall to shop. What are you looking for?"

"You said that you would help me sex up my image," Jessi told her. "You said it would help the process."

"It looks like it's been going well all ready. Didn't Kyle take you to the movies?" Lori asked. "You both seemed pretty happy afterward."

"It was very nice," Jessi agreed. "I just want to take some of the steps. You said the steps along the way could be fun." Lori looked puzzled and Jessi explained, "Steps toward having sex."

"Oh, right," Lori flushed slightly. "Well, you don't want to rush into that." She looked at Jessi speculatively, "At the risk of hearing more than my brain can handle, how far are you and Kyle going?"

"How far are we going?" Jessi frowned. "We don't go very far from the house, just to the movies."

"I mean how intimate are you being?" Lori asked. "What does he do when he's with you?"

"We kiss a lot," Jessi said. "It's very nice. He puts his arm around me and holds me while we watch the movie."

Lori looked both relieved and mildly disappointed, "Is that all?"

"After the movie we went to my apartment and sat on the couch," Jessi said. "I put my head in his lap and he held me and kissed me." She smiled at the memory and said, "It was very nice."

Lori nodded, "All right, maybe we _can_ find something to sex up your image." She held up a blouse, "This one is low cut, it would show a lot of cleavage."

Jessi glanced down and frowned, "I don't think I have a lot of cleavage."

"Yeah, we all make do with what we have," Lori said putting it back.

Jessi picked up a green cropped top and looked at it.

"Belly button," Lori said in warning.

Jessi frowned and put it back, "So what would be the next step?"

"Well, I suppose it would be 'second base'," Lori suggested. "Do you know what that is?"

"I've encountered numerous references, but there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus," Jessi frowned. "Not counting all the baseball references, most of the definitions related to dating involve above the waist touching, with or without clothing."

"That's pretty much right," Lori nodded. "Sometimes you break that up into two or three steps."

"That's what Raymond wanted to do," Jessi said. "I didn't like it when he did it."

"Of course you didn't like it," Lori agreed. "You didn't want him to touch you, you weren't ready. When you want someone to, it feels nice." She closed her eyes, remembering, "It feels very nice." She picked up a white top with thin straps and said, "This might work. It looks like it might fit snugly."

"Shouldn't I get one that isn't tight," Jessi said, puzzled.

"Tight would show off the merchandise," Lori explained.

"So I could show that the store was open?" Jessi said.

"That's the point." Lori handed it to her, "Why don't you go try it on?"

Jessi took it and went into the dressing room. While she was gone, Lori looked at other blouses. When Jessi returned Lori nodded, "That looks good on you. I think it might do." Jessi smiled happily and went back to the dressing room, returning with her normal blouse on, carrying the white one.

"Do you want to get anything?" Jessi asked.

Lori sighed, "I don't have a lot of money to spend at the moment." She held up her hand, "And you aren't supposed to buy clothes for me."

Jessi nodded, "I know, Nicole told me."

Lori pointed at the blouse, "I think that may help you interest Kyle in the next step. You two are obviously becoming a couple."

"Kyle says we're becoming a couple," Jessi agreed. "He said that's why we could see out of each other's eyes."

Lori stared, "Wait, stop, did you just say 'see out of each other's eyes'?"

Jessi picked up a black blouse and held it up to give it a speculative look. She said, "When we were kissing on the couch he looked into my eyes and we could each see what the other was seeing. Then we kissed and could feel it from both sides." She put the black blouse back. She looked suddenly at Lori, "Are you all right? Your pulse has increased and your temperature is up by a degree and a half."

Lori was standing still with her eyes partially closed. She sighed, "I was just trying to imagine what that would feel like."

"It was very nice," Jessi confirmed. "Normally, if the other one is willing, we can share memories. This is the first time we've been able to share current experiences."

Lori shook her head in wonderment, "I think you are in for quite an adventure."


	9. Kesdet Consulting

Kyle typed the code on the entry keypad at the Kesdet Consulting office. After he and Jessi had entered he carefully closed and locked the door behind him.

Foss, who had come down the stairs, said, "Good, you're paying attention to the security protocol."

"You taught me well," Kyle said with a smile.

"With the threats that Grace has been passing on we have to be careful," Foss cautioned. "Have either of you seen anything unusual?"

"Nothing we've noticed," Kyle shook his head. "Have you seen anything?"

"It _has_ been quiet," Foss agreed. "I review the monitors regularly but there is nothing standing out. I see no signs of anyone casing your house or this facility."

"Maybe she's just bluffing," Kyle suggested

"Someone shot Adam Baylin while I was watching him," Foss pointed out. "I can't take that risk with the two of you. We just have to all stay alert."

"We'll let you know if we see anything," Kyle promised.

"Do you need anything, Tom?" Jessi asked.

"No, thank you, Jessi," Foss smiled at her. He continued, "If you want anything, I'll be upstairs." He turned and climbed the stairs to his area.

Kyle and Jessi proceeded to the workshop area to check on the status of the device.

Kyle looked at the display, "It's stopped charging at ninety three point seven percent of capacity."

"We expected to have some improperly formed containers and channels. The access mechanism compensates for that," Jessi said. "Six point three percent is within expected error rates."

"It needs more extensive testing before it's ready for production," Kyle said. "But so far it's working. Your celebration wasn't premature."

Jessi smiled ruefully, "I'm sorry the smoothies didn't work out the way I planned. I know it bothered you to have to see Amanda."

"It's all right," Kyle sighed. "It's going to take both Amanda and me time to get used to not being together."

"I should start the production of a second lattice," Jessi changed the subject. "It would be good to have more test samples and I've made improvements to the selection algorithms. I think it will give us a better yield and we'll be able to run the assembly process ten percent faster. We will eventually have to redesign the magnetic field generators. I don't think they are precise enough yet."

"That's a good idea," Kyle agreed. "I've prepared the patent filings. We should be able to file our patents on the device, the technology and the assembly equipment, including your computer arbiter interfaces. There are quite a few patents necessary to cover all of our innovations."

"I didn't have to do that with my solar cell invention. Latnok did all that for me," Jessi said. "That was easier."

"I want us to have more control over this," Kyle said. "The solar cells needed a minor retooling of existing production facilities. This will involve creation of new production facilities, sales and distribution. It will take a rather large company."

"Jessi frowned. "Will we have to build and manage all of that?"

"I don't think we should try to do it all ourselves," Kyle said. "My idea is that we should partner with Madacorp. They could handle the financing and management and we could provide the invention and other intellectual property."

"Do you want us to license it to Madacorp?" Jessi asked. "I thought you wanted to be able to control how it was marketed."

"I'm thinking more than a simple licensing arrangement. This will eventually be bigger than Madacorp itself," Kyle said. "I think that a joint venture between Madacorp and Kesdet Consulting should develop the new infrastructure."

"Do you think Emily would agree?" Jessi asked.

"I think she would," Kyle said. "Although she might not like the sharing arrangement I want to propose." He smiled, "I want us to have fifty one percent of the joint venture so that we will be able to retain control. This is an important invention, we must continue to have a say in how it is developed and distributed. The most important question is, do _you_ agree, Jessi? This was originally your idea and you've paid for most of the expenses. You should decide what we do with it."

"It's _our_ project," Jessi insisted. "We did it as a team. I hadn't thought about how we would get the battery into production, I've been concentrating on getting it built. I like your idea. It lets us concentrate on what we do best."

"Then I'll contact Emily and arrange a meeting to show her the device and propose the arrangement."

"We should go home, I want to get ready," Jessi changed the subject. "You promised to take me to the movies tonight."

"I promised," Kyle said. "I'm looking forward to it."

_Our 'quantum battery' was a success. It was the most complex thing that Jessi and I had ever attempted to do. It had taken us weeks of work to accomplish and had pushed us to the limits of what we were capable of doing. It was going to have a major impact on the world. Jessi was right. It was amazing what we could accomplish when we worked together._


	10. Declan & Jackie

Declan and Jackie walked across the street from where they parked the car to the restaurant. It was a two story converted house with brown wood shingles. When they entered, they found the decor warm with lots of wood along with small tables, covered in checked tablecloths. The Italian decor was reflected in the various murals and paintings on the wall.

After they had been seated, Declan said, "I'm glad you're back, how was your visit home?"

"Cold," Jackie said. "Nebraska is a lot colder than Seattle. But I had a good time. It was good to see my family again." She smiled in recollection then added, "My sister, Sally, is pregnant." She noticed Declan flinch and said, "Don't worry, I have no interest in children at this point in my career."

"I didn't say anything," Declan objected.

"I saw you flinch," Jackie laughed. She continued, "This will be the second child for her and her husband. They're hoping for a boy this time." She thought a moment and continued, "Dad's finding the Nebraska winters harder each year."

"Maybe they should move somewhere warmer," Declan suggested.

"Not my father," Jackie shook her head. "He's got roots. Nebraska is home, frozen or thawed." Her cheerful expression faded slightly, "I worry about him."

"You moved away," Declan said. "Maybe he could get used to the idea too."

"I still feel the pull of home from time to time," Jackie admitted. "A lot of local people move back after college. I like being in different places and experiencing different things. I'm also really interested in pursuing my project." She smiled, "I told Dad that I was into farming at a whole different level. I'm afraid his idea of plant development is a new variant of corn, but he pretended to be interested."

"Has there been any word on your grant application?" Declan asked.

"Nothing yet," Jackie shook her head. "I expect to hear something within the next month. It's a potentially very significant project. I think I have an excellent chance of getting funding."

"I'm sure you will," Declan said. "From your description it sounds like you are going to revolutionize agriculture."

"I thought you didn't listen.".

"I listen," Declan said. "I just don't follow all the genetic stuff."

Jackie leaned over and kissed him.

"What's that for?" He asked.

"That's for listening." She smiled and asked, "How was your Christmas?"

"Lonely," Declan said. "I missed you. My family doesn't do much for Christmas. It's never been a big tradition in our house. It's been nice to have time off from school, though." He paused and added, "I put in an application for UDub for next year."

"That's good," Jackie said. "Is your GPA getting better?"

"I've been trying to pay more attention to my grades this year," Declan said, "since it doesn't look like I'm destined to be a basketball star." He shrugged and added, "Oh, and Lori Trager sang at 'Pockets' again," Declan said. "She got approached by an agent who wants to sell her songs."

"That sounds exciting for her," Jackie said.

"Yes, and if she's successful, I get to look forward to hearing what a jerk I am on the radio several times a day," Declan said.

"You're not a jerk," Jackie objected. "I think you secretly like being the subject of her songs."

"I do," Declan admitted ruefully. "Is that wrong?"

"You and Lori were important to each other for years. It's a sign that you mattered to her," Jackie said. After a moment she added, "And that you still do."

"I suppose so," Declan agreed, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I told you I'm not jealous," Jackie said with a laugh. "I don't expect a long term commitment from you."

"What do you expect?" Declan asked with a slight frown.

"Some happy times, pleasant meals together, companionship," Jackie explained. She smiled and added, "Some cuddling when I need it."

"Do you need cuddling?" Declan asked.

"What do you think?" Jackie said. "I've been away for weeks. And I don't think I've really warmed up yet."

Declan smiled, "Well then I'll have to help with that."


	11. The Movies

Kyle and Jessi held hands as they approached the ticket counter. Kyle looked at Jessi and said, "You look very nice tonight."

"Do you like my new blouse?" Jessi indicated her new white blouse which was more form fitting than what she usually wore. "Lori helped me pick it out."

"It's nice," Kyle said.

"You do like it," Jessi said with a twinkle in her eye. "It makes your eyes dilate."

Kyle blushed, "Well, yes, it's very nice."

"And makes you blush too," Jessi said teasingly.

Kyle turned with an effort to the ticket taker, "Two for the eight thirty." He bought the tickets and they entered the theater.

"I'll buy the popcorn," Jessi said, happy to have a tradition.

They watched the movie as they had previous ones, with Jessi cuddled up against Kyle's shoulder and his arm around her, sharing companionship and popcorn. From time to time Kyle would glance over and watch Jessi's face as she watched the movie. Jessi was also glancing over to watch Kyle's face as the light from the movie played over it. Once they caught each other looking and smiled. They kissed and went back to watching the movie.

_Butterflies and Electricity, when I had gone to the movies with Amanda, there had always been a feeling of mystery and uncertainty. I called it 'butterflies' and it was exciting. With Jessi, there was the energy, the feeling of power, force waiting to be released. I called it 'electricity'. We were comfortable together in a way I had never been before. There was a feeling of confidence and power, as if, together, we could do anything. I liked that feeling._

When they came out arm in arm, Kyle remarked, "I liked it, it was adventurous but less serious than last time. They were sort of super heroes, although they used technology."

"We're more super heroes than they were," Jessi objected. "We have actual powers. Should we go around fighting crime?"

Kyle looked at her to make sure she was joking, "Technology can substitute for powers sometimes. And may have more expandability than what we have. We do have natural limits." He smiled, "And I think we _are_ fighting crime."

"So then, we're superheroes," Jessi said, laughing. She took his arm and said. "Do you want to go to my apartment for more hot cocoa? I bought some cookies to go with it."

"I'd like that," Kyle agreed after only a moment's hesitation.

As she let them into the apartment, she said, "Sit down, I'll get the cocoa and cookies."

Kyle sat on the couch and Jessi soon joined him with to mugs of hot cocoa and a plate filled with cookies. She happily snuggled up to him against his shoulder while she drank her cocoa.

Kyle looked around the room, "What does Nicole think about you keeping this apartment?"

"She hasn't said anything about it," Jessi said. "I think she knows it's important to me. I keep it because it's where Sarah and I lived. And it's a nice place to have cocoa and cookies with you."

"It is," Kyle agreed. "Although I'm not sure that Nicole would approve of that part."

"Nicole said we were supposed to be discreet," Jessi objected. "This is certainly discreet, there's no one here but the two of us."

"That's true," Kyle agreed, "But I think Nicole's still uncomfortable with us being together."

"Well, she's going to have to get used to it," Jessi said defensively, "We're together now." The final statement had a hint of uncertainty.

"Of course we are," Kyle assured her, then kissed her.

After they finished their cocoa, Jessi shifted and lay down in Kyle's lap saying, "Doing this was really pleasant last time. Let's try it again."

"It got pretty intense; we'll have to see if we can control the intensity." He supported her neck and shoulders with his left arm and brushed her hair with his right hand. He leaned over and they kissed then he looked into her eyes.

_I looked into Jessi's eyes and once again felt drawn into their depths. The barriers between us started to drop and I consciously kept the connection more limited than the last time. We were sharing our experience and our pleasure at each others company, but this time my perception of her senses was muted as we limited the connection. I looked at Jessi's face and eyes. I had never realized how beautiful she was, her strong chin, long slender throat. Her shoulders were smooth and as I looked down I ..._

Kyle sat up, breaking the connection. His face was red with embarrassment. He said, "Jessi, I'm sorry I didn't mean to."

Jessi smiled at him, "The blouse was supposed to make you look. Besides, you've seen me naked before."

"But, I shouldn't be looking at ..." Kyle said.

Jessi smiled and said, "I've heard that it's called 'second base', haven't you wanted to go to second base?"

Kyle was still embarrassed, "Well, yes, but ..."

"Lori said that the steps could be a lot of fun," Jessi assured him. She took his free hand and guided it to her chest. He held back and she said, quoting Foss, "In every step, there comes a time when the next foot comes down." He let her bring his hand down to gently touch her chest.

She put her hands up to the sides of his head and pulled him down for a kiss. As he moved back to look into her eyes, she said, "That feels nice, let me show you how it feels to me." Her eyes dilated as she opened the connection between them.

They looked into each others eyes for a long moment and then Kyle leaned back slightly out of breath and said, "I think we have to stop. The urge to take more steps is getting pretty strong."

Jessi said with her voice slightly hoarse, "Yes, I could feel that too. We want to take steps, not run a race." She sat back up and picked up a cookie to nibble as they collected themselves. Then she turned and kissed him and said, "Taking steps together can be fun."

Kyle was having a harder time collecting himself but he said, "That certainly was."

When they reached the front door of the Trager house, Jessi paused for the traditional kiss 'on her doorstep'. It was slower and longer than on previous times and they separated catching their breath once more before going into the house.


	12. The Rack

Josh arrived at The Rack along with the after school crowd and immediately went behind the counter and put on his apron. He turned around and the first customer he encountered was Andy.

"Let me guess, banana guava smoothie?" Josh asked. "Do you still drink that stuff?"

"Of course I do," Andy assured him. She gave him the money. When he gave her the change, she looked at it, "I still get your employee discount?"

"Of course you do."

Andy told him, "I'll be over at that corner of the counter. I thought I'd do my homework while I watched you."

"Watching me make smoothies is not very exciting," Josh said.

"We'll see how it compares with English Literature," Andy laughed. She went to the end of the counter and sat to wait, her book open.

Amanda came behind the counter, put her apron on and started taking orders as well.

Josh heaved a big sigh, "I'm really glad you're back. It was really crazy here without you."

Amanda nodded to him without her characteristic happy smile. After a few minutes, the two of them, working together, had the rush handled and Josh was able to go over and stand by Andy as she studied.

He observed, "You didn't used to be so serious about studying."

"I didn't used to be a week behind," Andy said. "It took us an extra week to get across the country. I've got the first week's assignments to catch up on."

"I have been so waiting for you to get back," Josh said. "We have got to schedule a trip to Jessi's apartment."

"About that, Josh," Andy's smile faded and she looked down. "I'm not ready to go as far as you want, yet."

"I've been waiting," Josh said, "I thought that when you finally got back we would ..."

"Make like bunnies?" Andy asked. "Look, Josh, I had a lot of time to think in Cleveland. The whole sex thing really got in the way when I was trying to connect with people. I wasn't innocent anymore and I didn't want to do the whole 'fallen woman' thing either. It was like I was in the twilight zone, neither one nor the other. I didn't like that feeling."

"So, you're trapped in the twilight zone so we can't have sex anymore?" Josh said trying to understand.

"I just don't feel right jumping straight into bed." Andy spread her hands and said, "Well, ok, maybe for some stuff but not the whole thing."

"So, how far do we get to go?" Josh moved into negotiation mode. "Second base, third base ..."

"Let's work up to it," Andy suggested. "We did first base in your living room."

"So, ... that would leave second base for next," Josh said, hopefully.

"The boy can count," Andy observed. "Let's just see what develops. I want to take a while, Josh."

Declan came in and Amanda greeted him, "Hello, Declan what would you like."

"Just a coffee," Declan told her. When she gave him the coffee, he said, "Thanks, it's good to see you back." He looked at her more closely, "How are you?"

"Honestly, I feel adrift," Amanda sighed. "I'm not with Kyle, I miss playing music all the time, I don't know. It's just not the same as it used to be."

"I have some experience with that," Declan nodded, "It can be hard at first. You don't know how to deal with someone who used to be close to you."

"I keep shifting between wanting him to come in and hoping he doesn't," Amanda said.

"You'll eventually be able to just talk to him," Declan told her. "I can tell you that from experience. In fact, there's my ex over there with Hillary." He shrugged and Amanda smiled.

He went over to join Lori and Hillary. "Can I join you, or will I start another civil war?"

"Sit down," Lori said. Declan sat down

Hillary said, "Lori was just telling me the great news."

"Great news?" Declan asked.

Lori held up her hand, "It's not certain, but Robin says she thinks Willow Hendricks might use one of my songs on her next album."

"Isn't that terrific," Hillary said.

"Isn't Willow one of those girl singers you're always listening to?" Declan asked.

"Yes, she's one of my favorites," Lori admitted.

"What song is she interested in?" Declan asked with a look of growing concern.

"She's thinking of doing 'Thursday'."

Declan winced, "I knew that would happen."

"What's wrong with him?" Hillary asked.

"'Thursday' is one of the songs I wrote about my breakup with Declan," Lori said.

Hillary looked puzzled. She asked, "Why would you be unhappy to have a song about you recorded by a major star?"

"Because it's about what a big jerk I was," Declan explained. "If she records it, I'll get to listen to it on the radio all the time."

"You'll be fine," Hillary said. She patted him on the upper arm and then got a puzzled look and squeezed. "You've been working out," she observed.

Lori frowned, "Hills."

"Sorry, I just got distracted," Hillary said. "Don't worry, I know the girl code."

"Does that even come into play any more," Declan said, puzzled.

"It does!" Both Lori and Hillary said, simultaneously.

Hillary said, "I have to go, good luck Lori. You're going to be famous." She moved out the door bestowing smiles on people as she passed them.

"Whew," Declan said. "Lori, I don't want to get anything started between the two of you. I'm not interested in Hillary, I'm dating Jackie."

"I know," Lori said. "It's just a reaction." She reached over and squeezed his upper arm. "You really have been working out. There's some serious muscle there. Are you still playing army with Foss?"

"I'm learning things. He has me doing exercises. Sometimes we go out in the woods and practice target shooting."

"Ugh," Lori said. "I don't want any guns around."

"They're less scary if you know how to use them," Declan assured her.

"I suppose so." She looked at him, making an assessment, "You are looking more together. Whatever he's doing I think it's doing you some good."

"I think so too," Declan agreed. He checked the time, "In fact, I'm scheduled to meet him now so I'd better go." He got up from the table and said, "Good luck on your song."

"Thank you," Lori said.

"Later, Trager," Declan said as he left The Rack.


	13. Old Warehouse

Foss came out the door of the Kesdet Consulting offices and locked it behind him, carefully checking to make sure that it was secure. He went to his van and, after looking around to see if anyone was watching, got in and drove off. From some distance away, watching through a high powered scope, a man with long sandy hair watched him leave and then started the engine on his sedan and followed at a distance.

After parking three blocks from the warehouse, Foss followed a winding path to get to the warehouse door, carefully watching to make sure no one followed him. Ian Grimes demonstrated similar skills as he quietly followed at a distance.

Inside the warehouse, Foss started moving barrels around. Declan came in shortly afterward and asked, "How can I help?"

"We're going to move the barrels to the places I have 'X' marked," Foss pointed.

Declan helped him move the barrels into place. When they finished he said, "Why are we _here_ today?"

"The Kesdet offices _are_ nicer," Foss grinned. "But we have more space here, plus these props. Today we're going to be doing some more dry fire drills."

"Bang, bang," Declan muttered with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

Foss gave him a stern look, "It may seem silly, but this is serious practice. We've been doing some traditional martial arts. They teach us many things, perhaps the most important of which is balance with focus closely following. We've been doing that in the context of throws, holds and so on. What I want is for you to bring that with you as you come back to dry fire drills."

"What do you mean?" Declan asked puzzled.

"When we were doing the dry fire drills previously, you were focused on managing your weapon. Today I want you to do exercises with motion as your primary goal. As we go through these actions, I want you to focus on balance and smooth movement."

"So what are we going to do with the barrels?" Declan asked.

Foss said, "I want to do some drills where you move from one spot of cover to another smoothly while firing and servicing your weapon."

"I thought the idea was to hustle from one to the other so you didn't get shot," Declan said.

"There is nothing inherently slow about moving smoothly," Foss explained. "In fact smooth motion can be more efficient than jerky moves. Efficiency is fast. First let's make sure your weapon is loaded with yellow dummies and that you have dummy clips in your pocket. I don't want to have to explain slugs flying through the neighborhood."

They went over to the workbench where Foss had several clips of the yellow dummy loads ready. Declan checked the chamber of his Glock then put in one of the dummy clips. He put his gun in his right pocket and a handful of clips in his left. Foss took his loaded Glock out of his pocket and set it on the workbench.

Foss said, "The barrel at the far end is your target. I want you to start at this end and crouch behind the first barrel. When I say go, 'fire' a couple of shots at the target and smoothly move to the next barrel. Repeat the process as you get closer. When you've shot ten shots, change clips."

"All right," Declan said. At Foss's signal he went through the drill. When he finished he came back and looked at Foss for comment.

"That was good," Foss nodded. "I think you can be smoother and therefore faster. You're spending too much time in the open when you move. Let's try it again."

They practiced this drill another three times until Foss finally called a halt, saying, "I think you've exhausted that sequence for today. You're starting to get bored and that makes you sloppy."

"I'm sorry," Declan said. "I'll try harder."

Foss shook his head, "We'll switch to something else. Let's go back to an old drill. Come over here." He indicated a spot on the floor. "That barrel," he pointed, "is going to be your enemy. Start by facing away from the enemy. When I give the signal, turn, fire a shot and then move and fire three more times."

"What movement should I make?" Declan said.

"The last time we did this, you said that a side to side movement bothered your ankle," Foss said. "Let's stick with a simple crouch."

"All right," Declan nodded. On Foss's signal, he turned, 'fired' his weapon and then went to one knee holding the Glock with both hands and 'fired' three more shots."

"That wasn't bad," Foss acknowledged. "But when I put you back into an old drill you went back to a jerkier movement. Try it again focusing on smoothness rather than trying to be fast."

Declan nodded and turned around. On Foss's command, he turned, fired the shot and then moved smoothly to one knee and 'fired' three more times.

"That was much better," Foss told him. "Do you remember why you fire the first shot."

"Because it might win the fight," Declan said. "I get it off immediately."

"It _is_ important to aim," Foss smiled. "Missing just alerts your enemy. Although, if your enemy is doing something that you want to interrupt, it may be worth firing just to distract him." Foss grinned, "Of course, then you can be pretty sure that his next shot is coming your way, which is a good reason to move after you fire. Let's do it one more time and call it a day."

Declan went through the drill again, moving smoothly to a knee to fire the final three shots. He frowned, "Why three shots?"

"Well, you could fire more, but if you miss with three shots, he'll probably have hit you by then. If you hit him, he probably won't be standing up," Foss shrugged. "In a real fight, of course, you really have to be guided by what's happening. That's probably enough for today. Let's go put the dummies away and get real bullets."

They went over to the bench where Foss retrieved his gun and Declan exchanged the dummy clips for ones loaded with live ammunition. Declan put the unloaded Glock and the ammunition back in his case.

"You are storing that under your car seat aren't you?" Foss asked. "You can't carry it with you yet, but you need to keep it somewhere nearby."

"Yes, I have to admit, it makes me nervous to be carrying it around. I worry about what will happen if I get pulled over and a cop finds it," Declan said.

"You're eighteen. As long as there's no clip in the gun and you lock your car when you park, you're within the law," Foss said. "Can you come over and watch things tomorrow after school? I have some errands I want to run."

"Sure," Declan said. "Are we back to continuous monitoring?"

"Not yet," Foss said. "But I do want to be more vigilant. We still have those rumors about a threat on Jessi to worry about. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, I can do my homework," Declan said. "I've submitted my application to UDub, so I have to take studying more seriously."


	14. The Rack

Amanda was washing cups near the end of her shift when she saw Nate come into the Rack. As he walked up to the counter, she went over to him and smiled, "Hi, Nate, are you here for your latte?"

Nate smiled in return, "You make the best lattes." He raised his eyebrows hopefully, "And a little conversation if you have the time."

Amanda hesitated only slightly before saying, "My shift is over in a few minutes. If you don't mind waiting, we can talk for a little while before I go home. I don't have very long, though. My mother will be expecting me home for dinner."

Nate agreed, "Sure, I'll be at my usual table." He took the latte over to his usual table and sat down, sipping it as he watched her continue to clean up.

When she finished, she mixed herself a smoothie, then hung up her apron and carried the smoothie over to join Nate. She sat down and said, "Did you listen to the music I recommended last time?"

"I didn't like it as much as the prior examples, it was more heavily orchestrated," Nate said.

"You like the simpler works?" Amanda asked.

"They're more mathematical," Nate explained. "I've spent my life working with science and technology. I have a bias toward mathematical expressions. I certainly like almost everything you've given me, though. I never really paid attention to classical music before."

"I'm glad I can be your guide."

"Speaking of guiding my musical education," Nate said. "I happen to have a couple of tickets to the Seattle Symphony next week. It's an all Mozart program, symphony number twenty eight, horn concerto number two, and requiem. Would you like to come along and explain it to me?"

Amanda looked troubled. "Nate, I don't really feel ready to date yet."

"This isn't a date," Nate assured her. "Think of it as a field trip. We're just going together to listen to some music."

Amanda smiled at his transparent attempt, and then she looked serious, "Is this still about Kyle?"

"It's about you," Nate said. "I admitted that I first approached you because of Kyle. But that was just in the beginning. After we started to get to know each other, I felt we had a spark between us. I liked it."

Amanda smiled in memory, but then said, "It's all very complicated with Kyle and all the secrets. I can't handle all that anymore."

"I'm not involved in that," Nate promised. "I was doing research, trying to figure out who Kyle was, but I know now. I'm trying to stay out of his way and do my own work." He shrugged, "Kyle doesn't like me."

"Because of me," Amanda said. "But you don't like him either."

"It's hard to like someone who doesn't like you," Nate said. "And wants to get between you and someone you're attracted to."

A frown passed over Amanda's face. "I don't know why you are so interested in me."

"Aside from the fact that you are a beautiful girl?" Nate asked. Amanda blushed. Nate continued, "The simple fact is that in the short time we were dating I realized how much I need someone like you in my life."

"I'd like to believe you, Nate," Amanda frowned. "But my life has really been disrupted by all that Latnok stuff, and you're a part of that."

"I'm a student taking advantage of an opportunity to advance my career," Nate assured her. "Whatever else Latnok does, they run a good program for students. Anyway, we don't have to deal with that right now. Take your time. All we're talking about is a field trip to listen to some Mozart." After a moment, he added, "They're orchestra seats."

Amanda smiled at the prospect, "All right. I'll go on a field trip to teach you about Mozart."

"Excellent," Nate said. "It's a ... field trip." They grinned at each other.


	15. Madacorp

Kyle was carrying the 'battery' as he and Jessi walked through the glass doors of the Madacorp main entry. The displays showed various Madacorp projects and a voice was announcing "Technology, Science, Art, only one company integrates all three for the benefit of mankind, Madacorp, building foundations for tomorrow."

Kyle nodded toward the display and said, "Because of what we're doing, that's becoming true once more."

Jessi smiled at him in response.

When they reached the metal detectors the security guard held up a hand, "Sir, you'll have to have that inspected." Kyle showed him his badge with the red word 'UNRESTRICTED' and he waved Kyle though, "I'm sorry, sir. Go right ahead."

After the retinal scan, they took the executive elevator up to Emily's office and as they went in the door, Tiffany greeted them saying, "Mr. Trager, Ms. Taylor, go right in. They're expecting you."

As they went through the door, Emily rose from behind her desk to meet them. Mike Kasperson got up from the chair he was sitting at as well. Emily said, "It's good to see you both again." She pointed to the coffee table at one end of her office, "Why don't you put that over there."

After Kyle had put the 'battery' down, they all shook hands and sat in the chairs around the table. Emily explained, "Based on what you told me about this over the phone, I wanted to get Mike involved early in this discussion. If this turns out to be as big a project as you implied I'm definitely going to have to get my board's approval to move ahead. Mike can certainly help with that. And he's one of the few people we can have a fully frank discussion in front of." She smiled and added frankly, "He also has a much better chance of understanding what you're talking about than I do."

Mike leaned forward attentively, "Emily said that you had invented a new form of battery?"

Kyle nodded, "Yes, we call it a 'quantum battery'. It's an electrical storage mechanism that uses the physical properties of an atomic lattice structure to store electrical energy."

"An atomic lattice structure," Mike frowned. "I'm not sure what that means."

"We assemble atoms in a particular structure so that the electron waves of the various atoms interweave to create strong barriers." Jessi explained. "By building these structures into a larger structure we create pockets that are bounded by these barriers as well as channels that allow us to fill and empty these pockets."

"I would have to see the math on this electron wave interweave function. I haven't heard of anything like it," Mike said hesitantly.

"There isn't any good math for it," Kyle shrugged. "Because of the motion of all the electrons, it involves an N body problem with a very large N."

"That's not generally solvable," Mike said.

"Yes, we've had to do a lot of intuitive analysis to determine the structure," Kyle told him. "Neither Jessi nor I can see it very clearly but we were able to use our intuitions to determine a candidate structure that we validated via a computer model."

Jessi added, "The model validated that our proposed structure would work. We had to build a special computer to process it. It uses some interconnection hardware I designed to streamline the modeling process. Even then, it took three weeks of processing to run the model."

"This sounds like a powerful computer," Emily commented.

Kyle said, "In pure computational power, it's about the same as the Madacorp mainframe. It doesn't support all the infrastructure connections, of course."

Mike shook his head and smiled, "I'm not going be able to understand the actual mechanism on a basic level, am I, Kyle?"

"Not really," Kyle said with an apologetic smile. "Jessi and I have to work with it on the metaphor level ourselves. When we try to envision the interactions of the wave functions it's too complex for us to visualize clearly."

"So, using the metaphor, how big are these 'pockets'?" Mike asked.

"They are approximately eighty nanometers across," Kyle said. "The 'quantum battery' is made of approximately one point five times ten to the nineteenth pockets." He smiled and in explanation said, "That's about twice as large as the estimated number of grains of sand on the Earth."

Mike and Emily stared at the box for a while and then Mike said, "How do you build something like that?"

Jessi smiled, "We built a construction mechanism which utilizes magnetic field and electric signals to control the deposition of atoms in a 'snow' of material. There are UV lasers that help monitor the process. The whole thing is controlled by that same computer system that we used to validate the structure -- it's computationally intensive."

"Am I going to be able to understand how _that_ works?" Mike said plaintively.

Kyle smiled, "It's complicated but we have it documented."

"So what's the storage capacity of the 'quantum battery'," Mike asked.

"We built the first one the size of a standard automotive battery. Theoretically, a unit that size could store fifty kilowatt hours." Kyle said, "In practice, the construction process generates a percentage of bad pockets and channels so you have to bypass them. That unit is charged to forty six point eight five kilowatt hours."

Jessi added, "We've improved the algorithms slightly so we think the next one will have a slightly better yield. It should finish assembly in two more days."

Emily looked at Mike who explained, "That's about twice the total battery capacity of an electric car. That means it would double the current driving range with a single battery and much less weight."

"The lower weight would increase the range even further," Kyle pointed out.

Mike nodded, "How many times can it be charged and discharged."

Kyle explained, "We don't use a chemical process. The ability is inherent in the physical structure. As long as that doesn't degrade, there should be no limit to how many times you can recharge it. They should last for years without noticeable degradation in a normal environment."

"And how long will a charge last?" Mike asked.

"There's some bleed off over time," Kyle said. "We think that you may lose one percent in the first year."

Mike raised his eyebrows, "And what type of charging efficiency do you get?"

"There's some overhead," Kyle said, "but not much. The loss is less than one percent."

"What does it cost to make?" Emily asked.

"The materials are inexpensive, the equipment will be expensive to build and you need a large amount of computing power," Kyle said. "We think that for the first few months they could be profitably sold at about ten thousand dollars a unit, but after a year we could get the price closer to one thousand. At ten thousand dollars, that unit would be two hundred thirteen dollars a kilowatt, which is below the current goal of electric vehicles."

Mike stared at the 'quantum battery' for a moment and then asked, "Emily said that you wanted to propose a joint venture between the company you founded and Madacorp. What type of arrangement did you have in mind?"

"It will take a significant infrastructure to build, market, and support the quantum battery," Kyle spread his hands. "It will essentially be a whole new industry. Jessi and I don't want to have to arrange all of that. We propose that a separate organization, jointly owned by Madacorp and Kesdet Consulting should be created for that purpose. We would provide the exclusive licenses to the inventions as well as all necessary technical consulting. Madacorp would provide the funding and management."

"That's certainly something that we could do," Emily nodded slowly. "We have broad experience managing technical projects and moving them into marketable products." She frowned in thought, "How do you envision ownership of this organization?"

"Kesdet Consulting would want to maintain a fifty one percent ownership of this organization." Kyle smiled at Mike, "You're the one who told me that it was a problem to lose control of Madacorp to the investors. Our primary goal is to use the access to power to improve lives. We want to assure that that remains a priority."

Emily turned to Mike, "I can't really evaluate the technology, but I certainly respect anything they produce. I can manage this if you think it's a worthwhile venture for the company, and the board goes along, of course."

Mike shook his head wonderingly, "I'm not sure I can evaluate the technology completely, but this is a paradigm changing invention. It will change _everything_ related to power and transportation. Certainly it can be used for electric vehicles and for smoothing out power production from non continuous sources, as well as storing power from continuous ones when capacity exceeds demand. And that's just off the top of my head."

Kyle added, "With the weight ratio, you could even consider it for aviation, at least for small commuter planes. Once volume drives the cost down you could even consider charging them at a power source and transporting charged batteries to avoid transmission loss. A charged quantum battery is a highly dense energy source."

"I had hadn't even considered anything like that," Mike said.

Emily looked at Mike, spreading her hands, "So do you think this is a good deal for Madacorp? We will have to absorb all the costs and we only get a minority share." She smiled at Kyle and Jessi, "No offense, but I have to look out for my bottom line."

"This is a gift," Mike assured her. "I would accept the deal for much less. This is going to make a very large fortune." He shook his head slightly dazed, "It will change the world." He reached out a hand to shake Kyle's and then Jessi's hand and told them, "Subject to the approval of the rest of the board, who would be idiots not to approve, we accept your arrangement gladly."

Kyle nodded, "We'll leave this prototype with you for testing along with a disk with all of the documentation on how to use it. After your technical people have reviewed it, I'm sure you will want to schedule technical sessions. You'll need to build your own construction equipment so that you can start making them yourselves. We'll be glad to help."

"We'll continue to improve the production software and build more prototypes until you can build your own," Jessi said.

Kyle said, "I do want to warn you that I am going to want us to try to lower the price as fast as we can do so profitably. I want a broad distribution rather than trying to get the highest possible profit per unit. I want this to do the most good possible."

"I'm not surprised," Mike said. "That's what Adam would have wanted to do."

_The 'quantum battery' was the successful result of Jessi and me working together at the limits of our abilities. I knew we could safely leave it in their hands to test. Even if we didn't trust them there would be no one else who could understand it. We barely did ourselves. The idea that Jessi started and I helped bring to conclusion had the potential of impacting world energy usage. And energy is the source of everything._


	16. The Rack

Lori was sitting in The Rack drinking a smoothie with a pile of papers spread in front of her when she spotted Mark coming in the front door. She waved to him and he waved back in recognition as he went to the counter to get a latte. He carried his latte over and set it down on her table, leaning over to kiss her before sitting down himself.

"Busily working on more songs, I see," Mark said. "Have you heard any word from Robin?"

"She says that Willow still likes 'Thursday' but hasn't finalized what's going into her album," Lori told him. "She says it's still looking good, but we still have to wait. Robin is also looking for somewhere to place the others we gave her on the demo CD." She gave him a mock stern look, "Speaking of that, we haven't talked about how you tricked me."

"Tricked you?" Mark reacted with mock shock at the accusation. He held up his hand as if he were taking an oath, "That was the honest truth. I thought the experience of recording would be good for you."

"You didn't tell me that you were recording it for an agent," Lori said.

"I don't think I would have gotten you near a studio if I'd told you that," Mark admitted.

Lori smiled, "Probably not, but it was a dirty trick."

"All I knew is that Gary had told me that he had talked to an agent and that she was coming to listen," Mark explained. "There was no guarantee she would really come or that she would be interested in your music. I didn't want to get your hopes up."

"Well, thank you," Lori said. "It's exciting to think that Willow might record my song. That would be really great."

"Lori Trager with a half full glass," Mark marveled. What is the world coming to?"

"I'm sure I'll find something to be depressed about soon," Lori assured him, smiling.

"It's nice to see you happy," Mark nodded, "even if it's only for a fleeting moment."

"I don't think I would write a lot of songs if I were happy," Lori frowned.

"Now that is a conundrum," Mark pursed his lips and nodded in thought. "I want you to be happy, but I want you to keep writing." He looked down at the papers and one caught his eye, "Is this a new one?" He picked up the paper and scanned it. After he had read it, he looked doubtfully at it, "Could you sing it to me?"

Lori looked around, "Not in the middle of The Rack."

Mark said, "Just quietly, I want to get the melody. Let me move closer." He switched chairs and leaned forward putting his arm around her."

"You just want to get your hands on me," Lori said in mock accusation.

"You have caught me out," Mark admitted. He kissed her on the cheek and added, "Now sing."

Lori leaned forward and quietly sang the song. When she finished, she leaned back and looked at him for comment.

"I like it," Mark nodded. "It still needs work, though. The second verse seems forced. There may be some better word choices there. I think you can do better."

"I think you're right," Lori agreed. "I didn't really like it. I was trying to convince myself that it was fine but I knew better."

"Trust your instincts," Mark told her. "Don't let your doubts overrun them."

"Like the instinct that made me pepper spray you?" Lori asked.

Mark blushed, "Well, not necessarily your instincts toward rude people who let the door slam on the people behind them."

"I don't know," Lori shrugged. "It worked out pretty well after a while." She smiled at him.

"After I got my eyes washed out," Mark pointed out. "But I agree." He leaned over and kissed her then sat up remembering, "Oh, Gary Baker wants to know if you want to do a set the third Saturday of February. The new semester is getting started and he wants to start up his schedule again."

"I don't have anything scheduled," Lori said. "I guess I can. It does give me a deadline to work toward. I want to have some more songs ready for Robin."

"And there's also the adulation of your fans," Mark added.

"I think polite applause is more accurate," Lori said skeptically. "But it is nice to see people like my music."

"Speaking of your schedule," Mark said. "There's a dance at UDub that I'm not the D.J. for next Saturday. Would you like to go?"

"What, you're willing to be seen on campus with a high school girl again?" Lori asked. "Of course I'd like to go."

"Good," Mark said. "I had a good time the last time we went." He looked down at the table and then at Lori, "I never used to like to go to dances. I always used to feel left out. Because of my age, I was always out of sync with the people around me. I didn't want to look stupid."

"You didn't look stupid," Lori assured him. "You danced very well. I liked dancing with you."

"That's the secret, I guess," Mark observed. "Dance with someone you are comfortable with."


	17. Dinner with Craig Tamblyn

Kyle and Jessi were seated at what was becoming their 'usual' table next to the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the valley. Once again, they were wearing their 'business' attire for the dinner.

Kyle mused, "Everyone has said that Craig Tamblyn votes with the 'other' side, but no one has said much about him other than that. Allana said that he used to believe but had become cynical over the years. We know that he's a plant biologist and has a number of patents on related to improving crops, which is good."

"So, why isn't he on the 'good' side?" Jessi asked. "He seems to be doing things that will help people. I like some of his work."

"He's made himself quite wealthy at it," Kyle commented. "I think that we have to be careful about revealing our intentions and make our goal for this evening simply to get to know him better."

"Well, we can get started on that," Jessi said, "here he comes."

The Maitre d' was leading a man, slightly taller than medium height, firmly built, with vaguely oriental features and dark hair toward them. The Maitre d' indicated the table, saying, "Here's your party, sir."

Kyle and Jessi stood up to shake hands, Kyle said, "Welcome Mr. Tamblyn." Craig Tamblyn nodded in acknowledgment, shook their hands and they all sat down. The Maitre d' handed them open menus and said, "Your waiter will be along shortly to answer any questions." Having delivered their guest, he turned and left.

They perused the menu in silence until the waiter came and asked for their orders. Kyle decided to try the Lamb, Jessi stayed with the Artichoke Tortellini and Tamblyn selected the New York steak. After the waiter had taken their orders, he collected their menus and left. Craig Tamblyn looked at them expectantly.

_We had come to find out all we could about Craig Tamblyn without revealing more about ourselves and our plans than we had to. It was obvious that he had come with the same plan in reverse. He wanted to find out about us without revealing things about himself. His heartbeat and other physiological characteristics indicated wariness. I decided that as we were the hosts, it was up to me to begin._

Kyle said, "Mr. Tamblyn, Jessi and I have been meeting with various members of the Latnok board to try to get to know each of you. You've all been working together for many years and know each other well. Since we're new to the board, we thought that part of our job was to learn about the other board members and their goals for the Latnok."

Jessi added, "I've read a number of your papers. You've done some innovative work in genetic modifications to improve crops. You have quite a few patents."

"Thank you," Tamblyn nodded. "I know you've done some work there as well. You assisted one of the Latnok students in her project. She gave you credit in her paper. There were some very innovative techniques there -- I suspect they came from you."

"Jackie did most of the work," Jessi objected. "I just gave her some ideas."

"The type of ideas that no one else in the world would come up with," Tamblyn smiled. "I think it's really going to be a profitable development. We've approved a grant for her next phase. She should be finding out soon."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear it," Kyle said. "It's going to help feed a lot of people. I think that's more important than how profitable it is."

Tamblyn shook his head slightly smiling, "You two kids have the idealism of youth." He shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with that, when I was a young graduate student and Adam Baylin was extolling the virtues of an organization to improve the world, I was caught up in his enthusiasm."

"What went wrong?" Kyle asked.

"Nothing went wrong," Tamblyn said. "I grew up. I found interesting work to do that I could make money doing. It gave me a good life, and the resources to do the work I like."

"So it's all about profit?" Kyle frowned.

"Profit makes the world go around," Tamblyn told him.

"Isn't that a cynical view?" Kyle asked.

"'Cynical' is what an idealist calls a realist," Tamblyn explained. "Let me tell you about profit. The word 'sustainable' is all in vogue right now. Something that is profitable is sustainable. It will continue on its own, it will grow on its own. It needs a minimum of management to keep it on track but it will sustain itself. If you want to do a project because you idealistically think it is good, even though it is unprofitable, it will live off of your energy. It will continue only as long as you have energy and resources to put into it. If your energy slacks it will die. If you want your work to sustain itself, make it profitable."

"Can't you both be profitable and help people?" Kyle asked.

"Of course you can," Tamblyn nodded. "I pick projects that will make a profit. I make a lot of money at them. But they make money because people are willing to pay for them. They are willing to do so because they fill needs that the people have. A lot of people go to bed with food in their stomachs because of the work I did -- to make a profit."

"But some of the things that are being done by Latnok do not help people," Jessi objected. "There are dangerous weapons and biological agents being created, wars fostered, people are dying. That's more than just wanting to make a profit."

"After what Kyle said at the last board meeting, I thought the two of you might be headed down that road," Tamblyn frowned. He leaned forward slightly, "That road is mined; you don't want to travel down it. The people doing those things are dangerous people; it is risky and unproductive to threaten them."

"So you just let them keep doing those things?" Jessi frowned. "You don't try to stop them?"

"No, I don't," Tamblyn said frankly. "There are bad things in the world. I'm not going to try to crusade to fix them all. I have my work, my area of expertise, I stick to that and as long as I am left alone to do that, I'm happy. I suggest you consider a similar course of action. You both are capable of great innovation. Your help on the student's project will make a big difference. Focus on things like that; don't risk everything going after those guys."

_His advice mirrored the advice that Grace had given. There was a temptation to use our talents on improvements like the 'quantum battery'. But Edmund Burk had said that "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." The fact that he said this in the eighteenth century demonstrates how universal and tempting Craig Tamblyn's philosophy could be. I did not want evil to triumph. We could not sit by and do nothing to stop it._

"I've heard that when the board votes, you usually support those people," Kyle said.

"They are dangerous people to oppose," Tamblyn shrugged. "People who have done so have disappeared. Besides, they will get what they want, with or without me and I don't want to generate their enmity. The few times I've needed something, they've supported me."

"And what of Adam Baylin's dream?" Kyle asked.

"Dreams fade when you wake up," Tamblyn said. "Then you go to work and do what you have to do."

_It was clear that Craig Tamblyn would not be won over to our goal of reforming Latnok. It was also clear that if we achieved our goal, he would be perfectly happy supporting our goals as long as he was able to continue doing his research. And whatever his motivation, Jessi and I had found that his work was generally beneficial._

_We spent the rest of the meal in more technical talk. We were both interested in the work that Craig Tamblyn was doing and he was happy to talk about it. Jessi gave him a couple of suggestions that he was grateful for. The meal ended amicably and we walked him to his car and bid him goodbye._

As they watched him drive away, Kyle frowned, "He's not an ally, but he's not really an enemy either."

Jessi said, "I do like some of the work he is doing, after we straighten out Latnok, I might want to spend some time with him going over it. I have some ideas that we didn't get a chance to talk about."

"We still have to straighten out Latnok," Kyle said with a smile.

"It's amazing what we can do when we work together," Jessi repeated, returning his smile.

Kyle kissed her and then sighed, "Let's go home." They got into her red Corvette and drove away.

Once more they didn't notice the sandy haired man who had been watching from the edge of the parking lot. After he watched them leave, he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and called the pre-programmed number. When the call was answered he said, "They were just out to another dinner. I checked out their guest. He's number four in the pictures you sent me."

He listened for a moment and then replied, "All right, I copy, the mission is a go."

After listening to the response, he said, "I have a plan. I will call you again when I've eliminated the target."

After a brief response he closed the phone and dropped it to the pavement, stepped firmly on it and broke it into a number of pieces. He bent over and sorted through the pieces, picking out the SIM card and carefully broke it in two. He carried the pieces with him as he walked to the car, tossing the two pieces in different directions. He got in and drove away.


	18. Stephen & Nicole

Stephen closed down the laptop he was using at the dining room table and stepped into the doorway to the kitchen. Nicole was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a journal.

Stephen suggested, "Everyone's gone to bed, would you like a beer?"

Nicole looked up and around, "You're right," she said. "It's quiet. Get us a couple of beers and we can go sit in the living room. Stephen got the beers and they went in and sat on the couch, Nicole leaning against his shoulder.

They sat quietly for a while and then Nicole finally sighed, "Christmas is over."

"The tree's down and the lights are packed away for another year," Stephen agreed.

"This was different," Nicole said. "The next big event is graduation then Lori, Kyle and Jessi will all be heading off to college. Next Christmas they'll be visitors."

"This will still be their home," Stephen objected.

"Yes and no," Nicole said. "Lori will probably want to be asserting her independence and be an infrequent visitor. I expect Kyle and Jessi to be around more often. They're not at the stage where they want to be somewhere else. They certainly have the resources to do that if they wanted to."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Stephen said.

"You're not a mother," Nicole patted him on the shoulder. She took a drink from her beer and asked, "Do you think Lori will get into UDub? I have to admit I don't really want her far away. I like the idea of you being on campus and being able to keep an eye on her."

"I think so," Stephen nodded thoughtfully. "Her grades aren't outstanding but they aren't bad either. The admissions office likes children of faculty so that will give her an edge. I don't think she'll have any trouble." He shrugged, "There's no guarantee of course."

"And Kyle and Jessi won't have any trouble getting in?" Nicole asked.

"With their straight A's and twenty four hundred SAT scores?" Stephen laughed. "Of course if it came to it, they have connections at pretty high levels. No, they can go wherever they want. They seem to want to go to UDub."

"They still feel a strong need for family," Nicole observed. "Jessi needs family even more than Kyle does. She's had so little stability in her life. I don't think either of them wants to be far away."

"Lori feels part of the family," Stephen objected. "We're important to her."

"Of course we are, but she's confident in her connection," Nicole said. "That gives her the strength to become independent. Kyle and Jessi still hunger for the connection that family brings." She took another drink, "We won't have to worry about paying for Kyle and Jessi, but we still have to find the money to pay for Lori's college. Are we going to have any trouble doing that?"

"We'll manage, somehow," Stephen said. "Maybe her songs will sell and she'll be able to pay her own way."

"Is there a real possibility of that?" Nicole frowned. "I thought it would be good for her confidence if she were able to sell some of her work. I didn't really take it seriously as a source of income."

"The agency seems serious," Stephen shrugged. "They certainly think it is reasonable that she could make money. That's how they make their money, and they have nice offices, so they must be selling something. They didn't ask Lori for money. I'm still planning on filling out the financial aid forms, though. Of course we have to wait until she's accepted to start that."

They sat for a moment sipping their beers then Nicole said, "I don't know if you've seen the signs, but things are heating up between Kyle and Jessi. I give them credit, they're trying to follow my request to be discreet, but I can certainly see them getting closer."

"I have too. It's to be expected," Stephen said. "Once they started dating you would expect the relationship to progress. They do seem remarkably compatible. I guess it comes from being able to read each other's minds."

"I suppose you're right," Nicole said. "I just find it awkward to figure out how to deal with it with both of them living here."

"Nicole, you've counseled a lot of kids some of them with real problems. I wouldn't think 'awkward' would rate very high as a concern," Stephen said.

Nicole laughed, "That's true. From what some parents have to deal with we've been pretty lucky."

"Except for Zzyzx, Madacorp and Latnok, of course," Stephen said.

"There is that," Nicole agreed. "I guess we can cope with a little awkward teenage romance." She thought for a moment, "Kyle was so focused on Amanda. That was cute. I'm sorry to see that over. I like Amanda."

"It was," Stephen agreed. "But we've all had our first loves. They're so overwhelming at the time. We usually grow out of them."

"I remember," Nicole nodded. She sat in reflection for a moment and then said, "They do make quite a pair, don't they?"

"They make my head spin," Stephen admitted. "And when they're talking to each other and don't have to slow it down for the rest of us it's pretty amazing. I think they're going to do some pretty amazing things."

"I still worry about Latnok," Nicole said. "I know Kyle and Jessi have plans to deal with them. They've been having dinners with the individual board members. But it's still pretty frightening. Those people are smart and powerful."

"Not as smart as Kyle and Jessi," Stephen said. "And they're starting to get a considerable amount of power themselves."

"They're still my 'kids'," Nicole said. "I just want to keep them safe and happy."


	19. Kyle's Room

It was late at night when Kyle was once again wakened by the sound of someone coming into his room. He looked at the door and the moonlight coming through his window clearly showed Jessi, quietly locking the door behind her.

"Are you being discreet again?" he whispered.

She turned and looked at him, her eyes large in the moonlight. She smiled and whispered back, "Yes. Can I sleep in your arms again for a while?"

_I knew that Nicole would not approve of us sleeping in each other's arms, but it felt good to hold Jessi. The resonance of our energy generated a feeling of strength and security that I knew that Jessi needed, and I wanted to share in. And we were being discreet._

Kyle opened his arms invitingly and she went over and climbed into the tub resting her head against his bare shoulder and placing her hand on his bare chest. She looked up at him and he kissed her gently.

Kyle whispered, "We can't be doing this very often or we won't be being very discreet."

"I know," Jessi said. "But I wanted to be close to you tonight." She gently stroked her fingertips across his chest and he shivered slightly. "After you -- visited second base -- have you felt our connection increase even more?"

"I have," he agreed. "I don't know if the physical connection had anything to do with it or if we are just becoming even more attuned to each other."

"We should try a science experiment," Jessi said with a mischievous smile.

"What kind of a science experiment?" Kyle asked.

In answer Jessi sat up in the tub and pulled her t-shirt over her head and tossed it to the side, she was wearing nothing from the waist up. Kyle's eyes widened as they looked at her in the moonlight. She settled back down with her head on his shoulder and said, smugly, "Your heart is really pounding."

"Jessi, you're ..." Kyle began.

"You've seen me before," Jessi told him. "You've seen me completely naked. This is just the other half of 'second base'. Besides you don't have a shirt on, either."

"You're beautiful," Kyle finished. After a moment, he hesitantly added, "But I don't know if we should be doing this. Nicole definitely wouldn't approve."

"It's just another step," Jessi assured him. "Or maybe it's the second half of the same step. The various definitions aren't very precise." She sighed, "I thought having more of my skin touch yours would feel wonderful. It feels better than I imagined."

"I like it too," Kyle said. "I feel warm and tingly everywhere we touch." He glanced at her chest and then looked away.

Jessi saw him look and smiled. "You can look at me. You can even touch me." She guided his hand to her and when he touched she gasped slightly, "But if you do that very much we won't be able to stop."

"Now _your_ heart is really pounding," Kyle said.

"I know," Jessi said. "That may be too much for now."

Kyle moved his hand to her shoulder, saying, "We can take steps slowly."

"Thank you, Kyle," she said and then added, "Let's see if we can get our heart rates to settle down. I really do want to be able to sleep together like this."

It took a while for their heart rates to settle down but eventually drowsiness began to take hold. They lay looking into each other's eyes until they slowly drifted off to sleep.


	20. Trager Kitchen

_When I awoke, the sun was shining through my window and Jessi was gone, as she had been the last time she had come to sleep in my tub. I lay there remembering how she had looked in the moonlight, my holographic memory allowed me to perfectly remember every moment of her visit to my tub. After enjoying the memory, I set it aside to visit later and prepared to face the day. I couldn't hear Jessi's heartbeat anywhere in the house, she must have gone out. My connection to her let me sense her presence some distance from the house. Perhaps she had gone on an early morning errand._

When Kyle walked into the kitchen, Nicole was sitting with some half-eaten toast and a cup of tea. He asked, "Where's Jessi?"

Nicole said, "She got a call from Foss. He wanted to meet her about something."

"I wonder if it has something to do with the Kesdet offices?" Kyle speculated.

"She didn't say," Nicole shrugged. "She just said she would be back later."

Kyle got a glass and went to the refrigerator and filled it with orange juice. He took a drink and looked puzzled, "It's unusual for him to want to see just her. I would have expected her to get me to go along."

_Suddenly the room disappeared and I found myself in Foss's old warehouse. The view was at a strange angle as though I were lying on the floor. "Kyle, help," I heard Jessi's voice in my mind, the message filled with distress. I was connected to Jessi and something had happened to her! I felt a pain in my stomach and saw a man with long darkish blond hair coming toward me holding a gun in his hand. Then the image faded._

Nicole rose from her chair, her voice filled with alarm, "Kyle, what's the matter?"

Kyle looked down at the broken glass and orange juice on the floor. He looked at Nicole, terror in his face, "Something has happened to Jessi." Without saying another word, he immediately ran out the front door and headed toward the old warehouse.

_I had run between the Trager house and Foss's old warehouse many times but I had never run so quickly. As I ran I pulled out my phone and used the emergency speed dial for Foss. He answered on the first ring._

"Foss," Kyle said, "Something has happened to Jessi at the old warehouse. There's a man there with a gun. I'm on my way there now."

Kyle listened as he ran and then said, "Don't argue. Just hurry. Please." He hung up the phone and increased his pace.


	21. Warehouse!

_When I arrived at the warehouse, I paused before running in. Foss had wanted me to wait for him, but I couldn't do that. I listened carefully but didn't hear any heartbeats or breathing inside the building. I went in. I hadn't been to Foss's warehouse for a while; it was just as I remembered it. And empty._

Kyle was standing in the warehouse when Foss rushed in with his gun drawn.

"Kyle, are you all right?" He asked.

"It's empty," Kyle said his voice filled with despair. "She isn't here."

"Kyle," Foss said firmly trying to focus him. "Tell me what you know."

"What are we going to do, Foss?" Kyle was agitated, "It's just empty."

"Kyle, you have to focus," Foss said forcefully. "Jessi's life depends on what we do in the next few minutes. I need to you to concentrate, tell me everything you know."

_I struggled to control my fear. Jessi needed me. I told Foss about the vision I had experienced in the Trager kitchen. I explained how I had seen an attack through Jessi's eyes, I described the man I had seen coming with a gun._

"You say you were able to see through Jessi's eyes?" Foss shook his head in amazement, but immediately became practical. "Can you identify where she was?"

"From what I could see, she was lying here," Kyle pointed to a spot on the floor, "and looking in that direction." He pointed to the other side of the room. "The man with the gun came from there.' He pointed to the barrels set to one side.

"It looks like he set up an ambush," Foss said. He bent over to study the cement floor. "There's no sign of blood -- or cleaning," he announced. "The dust in this area has been disturbed, though." He stood up and said, "I'm going to get my laptop from the car so that we can look at the recordings from the surveillance cameras."

"Surveillance cameras?" Kyle asked.

"Ever since you and Declan broke into my monitoring station in that apartment I've always had hidden cameras monitoring my own location to see if anyone has been around," Foss explained. "When I got your call, I rushed over here without checking them. We can review them to see what happened. Wait here."

Foss went outside and returned in a moment carrying a laptop. Declan was behind him, a serious expression on his face.

"I called Declan on my way over," Foss explained. He set the laptop on one of the work benches and accessed the video record. "Ok, here he is." Foss announced, pointing to the screen.

The surveillance replay showed a sandy haired man of medium build walking into the warehouse.

"That's the man I saw," Kyle said.

The man walked around the warehouse, looking at the various furnishings, periodically looking back at the entryway.

Foss said, "He's looking for a hiding place that he can cover the door from."

Apparently that was the case, because when he got to the barrels, he rearranged a couple of them and checked that he could hide behind them and then headed back toward the door.

"Maybe we can get some fingerprints," Foss said. "No, he's wearing gloves. This is a professional."

The man reappeared carrying a boom box and set it on the workbench, turning it on.

"It's too bad I only have visual recordings," Foss said.

_I accessed my holographic memory and replayed the moment I had been connected with Jessi. I hadn't noticed it before but there had been music playing. It had been relatively loud._

Kyle said, "There was loud music playing when Jessi contacted me. He might have been trying to interfere with her hearing."

"It doesn't look like Jessi was an accidental target, then," Foss shrugged. "That never was a likely possibility, anyway."

The man then took cover behind the barrels.

Kyle said, "Nicole said that she got a call that she thought came from you, Foss. I didn't see him make any calls."

"He may have done that off camera," Foss suggested. "Or he may have an accomplice. We're going to have to be alert for that possibility."

When nothing happened for a while, Foss fast forwarded the display until Jessi finally appeared in the frame. She paused in the center of the room and looked around, saying something.

"Probably calling for me," Foss said grimly.

Then she grabbed at her stomach and fell to the ground. The sandy haired man came out from behind the barrels carrying his gun.

"That's the moment I saw when we were connected," Kyle exclaimed.

"It looks like a hypodermic gun," Foss leaned close to the screen. "She doesn't look like she has been shot with a bullet. There was no blood at that spot."

The man carried a blanket over and spread it out next to Jessi. He checked her pulse at her throat and then rolled her onto it. He patted her pockets and then reached into one of them and pulled out her keys. Then he rolled up the blanket around her. He picked her up, putting her over his shoulder and walked out of the scene.

Foss said, "Obviously he doesn't want to attract attention. Let's check the external view at this timestamp."

He called up the external view and fast forwarded it to the matching timestamp. It showed Jessi's car sitting in front of the warehouse. The sandy haired man appeared in the frame carrying a rolled up bundle and set it down behind the car. He opened the trunk, then picked the bundle up and put it in, closing the trunk lid afterward. He went out of the frame, back into the building and then reappeared carrying his boom box. He tossed it into the passenger's seat, then got into the driver seat and drove away.

"That's it." Foss closed the laptop and picked it up, "let's get going. We'll take Declan's car, it's faster. Keys?" Declan handed him his keys. Foss led the way, saying "Kyle in the front, Declan the back. Declan do you have your Glock along?"

"It's under my seat," Declan said.

"Good," Foss said. "Take this," he handed the laptop to Kyle, "if you can do any of your magic to track that car, we need a direction."

"I can try accessing the traffic cameras and see if I can locate it," Kyle suggested. "I've done that before."

They all jumped in Foss started the car and pulled out. As they drove away, Declan said from the back seat, "Where are we going?"

Foss explained, "Unless Kyle can get me some actual data, I am going to have to guess. My guess is that he is going to take interstate 90 eastbound. That will get him out of the city fast. After he passes Issaquah it gets pretty rugged. I'm betting that's his goal."

Kyle looked up from the keyboard his fingers were rapidly typing on, "His goal for what, Foss."

Foss ignored him and stared straight ahead at the road. Kyle turned grimly back to his keyboard.

After a moment, Kyle announced, "I picked him up. Starting with Foss's assumption narrowed the search significantly. Instead of a spiral search pattern, I began by attempting to verify Foss's conjecture."

"He's heading for I90?" Foss asked.

"I've picked up one contact on that path," Kyle agreed. He typed for few more seconds then announced, "Here's another, stopped at a stoplight."

"How long ago?" Foss asked.

"He seems to be fourteen minutes ahead of us," Kyle said. "It took time for us to gather at the warehouse and figure out what happened. We wasted time."

"Fourteen minutes is very good, considering," Foss assured him.

"I have another picture confirming the path," Kyle announced. A moment later he added, "And I have one of him getting onto interstate 90 heading east.  
You were right, Foss."

Foss said, grimly, "After this, it get's harder. There won't be any traffic cameras on the interstate."

"There are three," Kyle corrected. "But they are all within the metropolitan area to manage commuter traffic reporting. If your theory that he is attempting to head for the wooded areas holds true then we won't have any way of tracking him once he gets there." After a moment he asked, "Do you think we should call the police?"

"I don't think we can feasibly explain what we know to them in time," Foss said. "And if we try, they'll stop our pursuit while they question us. I don't think that we have the time to spare, I think he knows exactly where he's going and it isn't going to be very far." He glanced at Kyle sitting next to him and said, "Kyle, her best chance would be if you could make contact with her again. Is that even possible?"

"Normally, it would be," Kyle assured him. "I'll try." He set the laptop aside and leaned back, closing his eyes.

_Jessi and I were connected. It was something we took for granted. I had used that connection to contact Jessi to summon help when Nicole, Josh and I had been in an accident miles away from the Trager house. As Jessi and I had become romantically involved, the connection had become even stronger. Normally it was a quiet presence in the background, when we were together it could become overwhelming. I settled my mind and concentrating on finding that connection and Jessi._

_I blocked out my fear and the pounding of my heart. I blocked out the fear and heartbeats of Foss and Declan and the sound of the car's engine, the wheels on the road, the wind blowing past the window. I blocked out the feeling of motion and tried to focus my entire mind on the part that could feel my connection to Jessi and searched for her._

_When your house is quiet, it isn't really quiet. There are always hums and other noises that the electronic aids of modern life fill our world with. You ignore them, unless you pay attention, they are not there. But if you have a power failure and they all stop, you notice suddenly how starkly quiet your house has become. When I sought my connection to Jessi, I found that silence. There was nothing there. Not the quiet hum that I felt when she was deeply asleep. I found only that stark silence._

Kyle opened his eyes and looked at Foss with tears welling in them. He said, in deep despair, "Foss, I can't find her. She's gone. There's nothing there at all."


End file.
